The Art Gallery of Western Australia is part of the Perth Cultural Centre, located next to the Museum of Western Australia and the State Library. The current gallery building opened in 1979.
The gallery has a collection of over 15,500 works of art, which up to 400,000 people come to admire each year.
Previously, the gallery was housed together with the museum and library in the building Jubilee Building, built in the late 19th century. And the administration of the gallery occupied premises in the former Police Quarter. The main gallery building was constructed in 1977 during the mining boom. In those years, the Western Australian government invested heavily in culture, and, inspired by the upcoming 150th anniversary of Australia's founding in 1979, allocated money to build the library as well.
The Art Gallery building is in the somewhat brutal style popular in European design at the time. The gallery's first collection was eclectic: it consisted of works by Indian and Asian artists, works by Australians of European descent, and copies of English art. The current exhibitions include works of traditional and contemporary Aboriginal art from the Northern Territories and Western Australia and works by Australians from the 1820s to the 1960s. The annual Year 12 Perspectives exhibition showcases the creations of art students - paintings, prints, digital art, designs and sculpture.
