There are so many different museums you can visit in Melbourne – and it’s a great thing! From the comprehensive Melbourne Museum to the more niche ACMI, there seems to be a museum for every interest possible.
The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is one of the most prominent museums in Melbourne that you’ll certainly have to visit. Founded in 1861 (!), it is Australia’s oldest and most visited art museum.
What to do and see at the NGV
It is said that the NGV holds the most significant collection of art in the region. That includes a vast treasury of more than 76,000 works that span thousands of years across ideas, disciplines and styles.
The best part about this is that museum admission is free to both locals and tourists, except for selected paid exhibitions.
Hence, there was little surprise that the NGV drew such a large number of crowds even on a weekday.
We happened to visit when the Pharoah exhibition was on. However, due to time constraints (and the fact that it’s paid), we opted to give this a miss.
Asian history & art
I was quite impressed to find that NGV hosts such an impressive collection of Asian art pieces, from ancient religious statues to modern contemporary art.
If you are a fan of Ai Weiwei’s controversial and provocative art, you’ll happy to find some of his pieces here as well.
There are also a variety of pieces by other Asian artists. Quite a few of them are criticisms of the current political and economic climate, which I suppose would not see the light of day in their respective countries.
Hence, I took special interest in these exhibitions and appreciated that we had the opportunity to view them in NGV.
Western classical art
Now, if you prefer the Western art world and its classical paintings, you’d be happy to know that the museum has not just one, but multiple large sections dedicated to these!
While I can’t say that I’m the biggest fan or that I know how to fully appreciate classical art, I did enjoy watching the other visitors immersed in their museum experience.
For instance, I spotted this lady drawing extremely gorgeous and detailed sketches of the paintings she saw!
The museum also features unique art styles that you may not be familiar with. For example, this is a Trompe l’Oeil still life painting. The artist, Edwaert Collier, enjoyed drawibng objects bound by leather straps on a letter rack.
It’s an interesting way of drawing still life and showing objects, which I had not encountered before.
The museum also kindly put out chairs in the galleries for visitors to take a breather and enjoy the artwork. Can’t tell you how deeply grateful I am for this as a pregnant woman in her second trimester at that time!
French Impressionalism
2025 update: we visited again with our baby! Now I did notice that it was a bit inconvenient that they didn’t allow bigger-sized bags, which meant that we had to get our bags from the cloakroom every time we had to feed or change our baby’s diaper. Stuff you really notice once you become a parent!
This time we did visit the paid exhibit, which was French Impressionalism. Tickets were rather pricey (imo).
That being said, I really liked the extensive collection of paintings on display. There were so many beautiful works that I found it difficult to pick just a few favourites, so I’m going to share all the photos I have haha.
Is the NGV worth visiting?
We spent about 3-4 hours here, which is quite a lot of time. This is especially considering that we didn’t visit the paid Pharaoh exhibition!
While I’m no fan of the crowds, I did enjoy our museum outing at the NGV.
It’s quite eyeopening – even though I’ve seen some variety of the artworks displayed in other museums, I always find that there’s something new or something unique that piques my interest.
If you’re not a huge art enthusiast or aficionado, you may not fully enjoy your time at the NGV. Unfortunately, it is not as interactive or engaging as the other Melbourne museums, but I personally think it still deserves a visit for its long history and amazing wealth of artefact displays.
DIRECTIONS
Address: 180 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne VIC 3006, Australia
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