Margaret Olley: A Generous Life

Our major exhibition celebrating the work of leading Australian artist Margaret Olley (1923-2011), ‘Margaret Olley: A Generous Life’ features more than 100 paintings and drawings highlighting the colourful life, legacy and influence of a much-loved Australian artist. This free exhibition is a celebration of Olley’s extraordinary life as an artist, mentor, muse, passionate collector and…

Ben Quilty captures strength, fragility, trauma and resolve

Ben Quilty’s striking portrait Sergeant P, after Afghanistan 2012 was acquired through the 2014 Foundation Appeal with generous support from Foundation members and donors, including a lead donation from the Returned & Services League of Australia (Queensland Branch). Commissioned by the Australian War Memorial in the role of official war artist, Quilty spent three weeks…

Ben Quilty’s view of Australia at war is a deeply human one

Every year, the QAGOMA Foundation Appeal seeks to add to the Gallery’s Collection a work that makes a compelling artistic proposition – one that somehow feels essential to us and might make others feel the same, in 2014, we are presenting a work by a leading contemporary Australian artist, Ben Quilty who is not yet…

An unspoken story: Ben Quilty’s ‘Sergeant P, after Afghanistan’

This extraordinary portrait, Sergeant P, after Afghanistan 2012 by Ben Quilty, one of Australia’s acclaimed contemporary artists, tells an often unspoken story of modern military conflict. In 2011, Archibald Prize-winning artist Quilty reached a serious turning-point in his career when he was offered a commission by the Australian War Memorial to fill the role of official…