Art Gallery of Western Australia

The Art Gallery of Western Australia is the state's principal art museum, standing in the Perth Cultural Centre at the northern edge of the central business district, beside the state library and museum in the Northbridge precinct. Founded in 1895, it holds the most significant collection of art in the state, spanning Australian, Indigenous and international works.

The collection has real depth. Its holdings are especially strong in Western Australian and Aboriginal art, including major works from the Kimberley and Western Desert, alongside colonial and modern Australian painting and a growing contemporary program. The gallery's collection of Indigenous art is regarded as one of the finest of its kind.

The building and rooftop draw attention. Housed in a 1970s brutalist structure, the gallery reopened a landscaped rooftop in recent years as 'Gallery Rooftop', a free public space with city views, a bar and sculpture, giving the institution a lively social dimension beyond its galleries. Changing exhibitions and design displays keep the program current.

Practical notes: the gallery sits within the pedestrianised Perth Cultural Centre, a minute from the Perth train and bus interchange, and is fully step-free with lifts between floors. General entry to the permanent collection is free, with charges only for major ticketed exhibitions, making it easy to fold into a Northbridge afternoon. Allow one to two hours for the collection, more for special shows. The surrounding cultural centre, with its state library, museum and public art, and the dining of Northbridge next door, make an easy cultural day out in central Perth. Rotating design and photography displays keep the program forward-looking, and free floor talks help visitors get the most from its deep holdings of Western Australian and Indigenous art.