Ian Potter Centre

The Ian Potter Centre occupies one of the two main buildings in Federation Square and houses the Australian art collection of the National Gallery of Victoria. Entry to the permanent collection is free. The galleries move chronologically from colonial-era paintings by Tom Roberts and Arthur Streeton — the Heidelberg School landscape painters who established a distinctly Australian visual tradition — through to contemporary photography, video art, and installation work.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander galleries on the upper floors are exceptional and consistently updated. Works by Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Rover Thomas, and other major figures sit alongside contemporary urban Indigenous art. The building's glass facades make the galleries bright and airy. A café on the ground floor is a reliable spot for lunch in the Federation Square precinct, and the bookshop has a strong selection of Australian art and architecture titles.

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The Ian Potter Centre holds the largest collection of Australian art in the world — around 20,000 works spanning from colonial paintings to contemporary Indigenous art. The decision to separate Australian and international art across two NGV buildings was controversial when it happened in 2002, but it allowed the Australian collection the space it had never had. The top floor Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander gallery, covering art from across the continent, is one of the strongest arguments for visiting this building rather than the main NGV across the river.

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