NGV’s globally exclusive restaging of French Impressionism headlines the National Gallery of Victoria’s (NGV) 2025 Autumn-Winter Season, which also features a major solo exhibition surveying the career of Australian-born, Paris-based fashion designer Martin Grant, and an exhibition titled Kimono examining the enduring and influential design lexicon of one of Japan’s most iconic garments, the kimono.
From 6 June 2025 at NGV International, the 2025 Melbourne Winter Masterpieces® exhibition French Impressionism charts the trajectory of the late-nineteenth century artistic movement, highlighting the key figures at the centre of this period of radical experimentation including Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot. Originally presented in 2021, French Impressionism closed shortly after opening due to the global pandemic. Presented by the NGV in partnership with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), an institution renowned world-wide for its rich holdings of Impressionist paintings, the exhibition features more than 100 iconic paintings, including additional works never-before-seen in Australia.
Martin Grant, a major exhibition staged at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia from 28 March, features more than 120 works by one of Australia’s leading fashion figures, whose clients have included Cate Blanchett, Lee Radziwill, Naomi Campbell, Juliette Binoche and Lady Gaga. Drawn from the NGV Collection as well as the designer’s own personal archive, the exhibition encompasses more than four decades of Grant’s career and is the largest-ever exhibition of his work to date. Exhibited designs span from the mid-1980s in Melbourne, through early 1990s when he re-established his eponymous label in Paris, to his most recent collections. Curated by the NGV in close collaboration with the designer, the show reflects Grant’s design sensibility and aesthetic through photography, sketches, press clippings and runway footage.
On display at NGV International and opening 4 June, Kimono examines how the eponymous Japanese garment has inspired global art, design and fashion since Japan re-opened to the world in the mid nineteenth century. The exhibition will display leading examples and visually dynamic examples of Japanese costume and fashion throughout history. These are presented with garments by some of the most experimental and innovative fashion designers of today, highlighting the enduring influence of the kimono on contemporary fashion culture. The exhibition will premiere new, never-before seen NGV acquisitions alongside a selection of paintings, posters, woodblock prints, magazines and decorative arts to contextualise the history, evolution and popularity of the kimono.
Olaf Breuning: Plans for the Planet, on display in NGV International’s free dedicated children’s gallery from 6 June, is an NGV-exclusive exhibition created in collaboration with Swiss contemporary artist Olaf Breuning. Inspired by the thrill and adventure found in playgrounds and theme parks, Plans for The Planet offers young people the chance to explore, be creative and share their points of view about the planet and its future. Using a swipe card collected at the exhibition entrance, kids can go on their own adventure activating animations and multimedia activities to help forest animals save their forest home, make a funny self-portrait and type up their solutions to issues and share their plans for the planet for everyone to see. Originally presented in 2021 during the challenges of the global pandemic, the exhibition returns in 2025 to allow kids and their families the chance to meaningfully experience this exhibition and Breuning’s creative worldview.
Top Arts 2025, on display at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, is an annual platform for emerging artists from across the state to showcase their skills, enthusiasm, and creativity. The exhibition highlights the innovative use of materials and techniques employed by students completing the VCE studies of Artmaking and Exhibiting, and Art Creative Practice. Opening 14 March, the exhibition will offer a captivating look into the imagination of young artists and the issues important to their generation.
The exhibitions program is accompanied by a diverse program of talks, events and courses for learners of all ages and experience levels. The opening weekend of French Impressionism will feature engaging perspectives and talks hosted by NGV curators and special guests examining the influences and the defining moments that shaped this period in art history. There will also be a dedicated suite of programs presented in collaboration with Alliance Française de Melbourne; the return of the late-night series NGV Friday Nights; dedicated programs for teachers and students; and the exhibition will also host the NGV’s biannual Teen Art Party for high school students.
NGV Italia, generously supported by the Italian Australian Foundation, offers people the chance to discover stories of Italian art, design, culture and life as told through the NGV Collection, through public events and and an online hub of essays, images and film. Returning in 2025, NGV Courses offer engaging learning about art and design history and the part they play in influencing or reflecting societal and cultural change, including new course Art and the World: Japan, and new subject areas including mid-century design, fashion, and key moments in art history.
The Hon. Colin Brooks, Minister for Creative Industries, said: ‘Here in the creative state, creativity doesn’t cool down when the weather does. The Allan Labor Government is proud to back the NGV and this incredible Autumn-Winter season, which will give Victorians the chance to see a world of art and design here at home, while giving visitors yet another reason to flock to the NGV – Australia’s most popular gallery.’
Tony Ellwood AM, Director, NGV said: ‘From the French Impressionists of the nineteenth century, to the emerging Victorian artists just starting their careers, our Autumn-Winter Season in 2025 celebrates human creativity throughout history, cultures and places. We’re especially delighted to be able to finally share the Museum of Fine Arts’s important collection with local audiences through the returning major exhibition, French Impressionism.’
French Impressionism, presented by the National Gallery of Victoria in partnership with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is on display 6 June to 5 October 2025 at NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne. Further information on this exhibition, as well as the entire season, please visit the NGV website.
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