Collections
The Geelong community established its tradition of supporting its art gallery when Frederick McCubbin's A bush burial was purchased by public subscription in 1900. This was the first work acquired by the Gallery and has remained one of its most iconic paintings. Over a century later, this tradition continues with the purchase in 2006 of Eugene von Guerard's View of Geelong through public and government support.
Frederick McCubbin, A bush burial, 1890.
Throughout the 20th and now in the 21st century, the Geelong Gallery continues
to build its collections through purchase and donation. It has developed
national strengths in Australian contemporary art, art of the Geelong region,
colonial silver, British art and European ceramics.
The Gallery has been helped in its collecting efforts by a number of generous
donors and benefactors, including brother and sister James H. and Miss L.J.
McPhillimy, Oswald Gibson, Dorothy McAllister and the artist Sybil Craig.
With the collection now numbering more than 4,400 works of art encompassing paintings, works on paper, sculpture, ceramics, metalwork and glass, the Geelong Gallery remains one of Australia's major regional galleries. It continues its strong tradition of preserving the art of the present and the past for current and future generations of artists and for the community as a whole.
Click here for a list of the works in the Geelong Gallery collection.
Click the History button in the menu above for a fuller history of the collection
of the Geelong Gallery.