Bendigo Art Gallery, Central Victoria, Australia: Introduction

I always feel so proud when I see or hear something about the latest exhibition at the Bendigo Art Gallery. As a fourth generation Bendigonian I am immensely proud of the city of my birth where my family chose to live following the discovery of gold in the 1850s. As you enter Bendigo even today many of the buildings and statues show those strong colonial connections.

Entrance to the Bendigo CBD Photo: Michael Coghlan from Adelaide, Australia/ CC BY-SA 2.0 File:Bendigo CBD.jpg Created: 24 January 2020 Uploaded: 30 June 2020/en.wikipedia.org

The city flourished with the discovery of gold and became the wonderful multi-cultural community it is today. If you are thinking of visiting please check out the City of Greater Bendigo Multicultural Calender for 2024 to learn more about the amazing diversity of cultures which call this place home.

The Bendigo Art Gallery first opened in 1887 and since then it has maintained a fabulous reputation for producing world standard exhibitions and remains to this day one of Australia's oldest and largest regional galleries.
Early photo of the Bendigo Art Gallery (Source: https://www.bendigoregion.com.au/)

I love the photo shown above especially as our iconic poppet head stands tall behind the gallery representing the importance of the discovery of gold in the area and how this wealth sowed the seeds for the wealth which flowed through the city in the early days.

The gallery has however undergone several face-lifts since its birth...

Development of the Bendigo Art Gallery over the years (Sources Top: en.wikipedia.org Bottom Left & Right: bendigoregion.com.au)
Plaques detailing the history of the Development of the Bendigo Art Gallery (Photo: John "Rowdy" Wylie)

You can check out a little more about the Bendigo Art Gallery by clicking here and also following the bookmark link below.

History of Bendigo Art Gallery
Bendigo Art Gallery was founded in 1887 - Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee Year.

As already mentioned, the gallery houses some remarkable exhibitions and in recent years, Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits and Elvis: Direct from Graceland are examples which thrilled many visitors.

Julie has provided us with some snapshots from her experience of going down memory lane with Elvis in Bendigo.

Images from the Direct from Graceland exhibition held at the Bendigo Art Gallery in 2022 (Photos: Julie)

To reflect on what she saw, Julie relaxed in one of the outdoor areas and as you can see it was autumn and believe me, the best time to visit Bendigo and the Greater Central Victorian area is in autumn.

Autumn in Bendigo (Photos: Provided by Julie)

Recently Rowdy Wylie and his partner Suzanne Benson visited the Bendigo Art Gallery to see the Paris: Impressions of Life 1880 - 1925 and soon after Julie also took the 2 hour trip up the highway to also see the same exhibition. Over the next few days come with us as we explore the wonderful art works that are on show till the end of July 2024.

But before taking in the Parisian works, Rowdy took time to check out some of the paintings in the rest of the gallery.

One of the exhibition rooms in the Bendigo Art Gallery (Photo: John "Rowdy" Wylie)

The painting below The Arab Blacksmith by English artist Thomas Sheard (1866-1921) and purchased by the gallery in 1906 brought back such strong memories of my childhood standing in front of this painting and feeling the heat rising off the sand and drifting into the gallery.

The Arab Blacksmith by Thomas Sheard (1866-1921) (Photo: John "Rowdy" Wylie)

The gallery also owns one of the highly contentious sculptures by Patricia Piccinini...

The Young Family by Patricia Piccinini (Photo: John "Rowdy" Wylie)

And to conclude this introductory post on the Bendigo Art Gallery, Rowdy was attracted by the works of Australian artists John Olson (1928-2023) and Clarice Beckett (1887- 1935) representing two extreme contrasts in style - from the modern back to the past.

L: Bush Walk by John Olson R: The Empty Seat by Clarice Beckett (Photo: John "Rowdy" Wylie)

If you are interested and have time please follow the link below to some videos on the Bendigo Art Gallery.

Bendigo Art Gallery
One of Australia’s leading regional galleries. On Dja Dja Wurrung Country. Established in 1887. Open 10am–5pm daily.

Tomorrow, Rowdy and I will take you to Paris to learn more about the artistic period from 1880 to 1925 - the age of Impressionism.