National gallery of Australia, founded in 1967, is the main art gallery and Museum in Canberra. One of the earliest promoters of the idea of creating a national art gallery in the early 20th century was known Australian artist Tom Roberts. In 1912, the Australian Parliament established the Historic memorial Council, which decided to gather a collection of portraits of Australian governors-General, politicians and other "fathers" of the nation. Responsible for this massive event was appointed to the Advisory Council of the Commonwealth of art, which operated until 1973. First, these collections were exhibited in the building of the Parliament of Australia, because of the Great depression and world war II for many years did not allow to find funds for the construction of a special building. Only in 1965 the decision was made on the construction of the National gallery, but construction only began in 1973 and lasted nearly 10 years. In 1982 the Grand opening of the National gallery of Australia took place in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II.

Gallery area of 23 thousand m? built in the style of brutalism: surrounded by a sculpture garden, the building is distinguished by angular shape and rough texture of the concrete, contrasting with the lush tropical greenery. Interestingly, the concrete with the exterior of the building is not finished nor plaster, nor lined, nor a painting, and interior walls have only recently been covered with boards.

The main floor features a large exhibition halls, which houses a collection dedicated to the Australian aborigines, as well as European and American collections. The basis of aboriginal collection is the so-called "Aboriginal memorial" 200 painted logs, which the natives marked graves. The memorial is dedicated to all indigenous people who died from 1788 to 1988, protecting their land from foreigners. European and American art is represented by works of such artists as Paul Cezanne, Claude Monet, Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol and other. The lower floor is devoted to the exhibition of works of Asian art (Iran, Japan, Thailand and China) from the Neolithic to modern times: collected here are numerous sculptures, miniatures, a collection of Chinese woodblock prints, ceramics and textiles. Finally, on the top floor you can see directly the Australian art – various items created in Australia since European settlement until the 20th century. It's paintings, sculptures, furnishings, photos, and more. In total in the gallery is more than 120 thousand art objects.