The 'Tank' gallery space is housed in a former decommissioned WWII oil bunker with 7-meter high ceilings.
The gallery houses one of the world's largest collections of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art.
The original 1871 building's facade features names of prominent artists carved into the stone, including Michelangelo and Raphael.
The Sydney Modern expansion was designed by the Pritzker Prize-winning architecture firm SANAA.
The gallery's collection includes over 30,000 individual works.
The museum sits on the site of a former industrial oil storage facility reclaimed for public use.
The Art Gallery of New South Wales is the state's leading art museum, featuring a vast collection of Australian, European, and Asian art. The site consists of the historic 19th-century 'Art Gallery' building and the contemporary 'Sydney Modern' expansion, connected by the glass-walled 'Welcome Plaza'. Its collection emphasizes Australian colonial and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander works. The Sydney Modern Project, completed in 2022, integrated a decommissioned WWII oil tank into a multi-purpose subterranean exhibition space. The museum serves as a major research center for visual arts in the Asia-Pacific region. It regularly hosts high-profile international traveling exhibitions alongside permanent displays. The gallery overlooks the Sydney Harbour and is integrated into the eastern edge of The Domain parklands.
The glass-walled atrium of the Sydney Modern wing looking out toward the Sydney Harbour.
Use the underground connecting tunnel between the original building and the new Sydney Modern wing to see the rotating light installations.
Check the online schedule for free daily guided tours that cover different sections of the collection.
Visit the Yiribana Gallery first to understand the foundational focus on First Nations art.
Do not attempt to see every wing in a single visit; the size of the combined campus is exhaustive for a single session.
Open daily; occasionally closes for private events or exhibition installation periods.
Photography is permitted in most permanent galleries, but flash, tripods, and selfie sticks are strictly prohibited.
