The Facts
On October 27, 2026, the National Gallery of Victoria announced Ben Quilty: The Unimpressionist, a world premiere exhibition opening March 25, 2027 at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia at Fed Square. The exhibition features over 80 new and recent works by the Archibald Prize-winning artist, including a seven-metre-long landscape painting reworking Arthur Streeton's The purple noon's transparent might, and a sculpture incorporating a 2018 Ford Mustang. Quilty's works address cultural erasure, environmental decay, and climate change. Highlights include watercolours painted in Antarctica and The Wastelands, an installation built from upcycled antique furniture and taxidermied birds.
The Signal
The exhibition marks Quilty's first solo show at the NGV and represents a significant institutional platform for his increasingly political and environmental practice. By directly engaging with Arthur Streeton and the Australian Impressionist canon, Quilty positions his work within a national conversation about landscape, history, and ecological stewardship. For collectors and curators, the show signals a continued institutional appetite for art that confronts climate change and colonial legacy through established figurative and landscape traditions.
- Artists: Ben Quilty, Arthur Streeton
- People: Tony Ellwood, Philip Samartzis, Professor Simon Tormey
- Museums: National Gallery of Victoria
- Locations: Melbourne
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