Bendigo Art Gallery

Bendigo Victoria

The art gallery building was constructed in the 1880s as the orderly room of the Bendigo Volunteer Rifles. The superfluity of money in the gold boom afforded an emphasis on cultural institutions, such as schools, a mechanics' institute and an art gallery, which took over the orderly room in 1887. The building was moved to its present premises (at 42 View Street) in 1890.

The Bendigo Art Gallery is now recognised as one of the finest regional art galleries in Australia and boasts a collection which includes both Australian and European paintings including Alfred Sisley's 'Moonlight' and 'Canal Scene' and works by Gustave Courbet and Theodore Rousseau. There is also a Meissen vase dating from the 1840s which was originally owned by the Tsar of Russia.

A collection of Australian art includes works by S.T. Gill, Louis Buvelot, Arthur Streeton, Walter Withers, Emma Minnie Boyd, George Lambert, Rupert Bunny, Grace Cossington Smith, Lloyd Rees, Penleigh Boyd, Ray Crooke, Jeffrey Smart, Clifton Pugh, Fred Williams, John Olson and Kwementwary Kngwarreye.