The National Gallery of Victoria is Australia's largest and oldest public art gallery. It was founded in Melbourne in 1861. В December 2003, the gallery's holdings were divided into two major collections, the Gallery of International Art Gallery and the Ian Potter Centre. The former is housed in a building on St Kilda, designed by Roy Grounds and built in 1968 in the heart of the city's cultural quarter. And the Ian Potter Centre is housed in a building on Federation Square.
At the time the gallery first opened, Victoria had only been an independent colony for 10 years an independent colony, but the gold rush made it Australia's richest region and Melbourne the country's largest city. Generous gifts from from wealthy citizens allowed the National Gallery to begin acquiring works by both ancient and contemporary artists, including those from overseas. Today, its collections contain more than 65 thousand works of art.
In 1867, an art school was opened at the Gallery, which was the leading Institute of Art in Australia until 1910. Among its graduates are some of Australia's famous Australian masters of painting.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Australian art flourished, which gave the Gallery the opportunity to amass significant collections of works by local artists, reflecting the integration of European art into Australia's distinctive culture. One of the most famous works of the period is Frederick McCabean's Pioneer, painted in 1904.
Among the works in the Gallery of International Art are canvases by Bernini, Palmezzano, Rembrandt, Rubens, Tiepolo, Tintoretto, Uccello and Veronese. Here There are also excellent collections of ancient Greek vases, Egyptian artefacts, European ceramics, etc.
The Ian Potter Centre, opened in 2003, showcases the work of Australian artists, including Aboriginal cultural objects and objects of everyday life Australia.
