September is serving up a feast of art across Australia, and there’s plenty to tempt your eyes, heart, and imagination.
From blockbuster international names to groundbreaking First Nations voices and fresh experiments in paint, sculpture, and textiles, this month’s exhibitions span every mood and medium.
Whether you’re in Sydney soaking up the energy of Sydney Contemporary, in Melbourne for Tschabalala Self’s bold debut, or in Hobart marvelling at Arcangelo Sassolino’s mechanical marvels, the calendar is bursting.
So, grab a friend, step into a gallery, and let these vibrant shows remind you why art really is best experienced in person.
NSW
CASSANDRA BIRD
A Gutful of Gold – from 5 September 2025
A vibrant solo exhibition of dynamic work by Tennant Creek Brio, a cross-cultural artist collective that fuses local histories, regional and global art influences, and First Nations perspectives.
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Thomas Demand: The Object Lesson – until 11 January 2026
Leading contemporary artist Thomas Demand unveils his latest project, transforming the Isaac Wakil Gallery into a unique setting for almost 60 artworks selected by the artist from the John Kaldor Family Collection.
Carriageworks
Sydney Contemporary – 11–14 September at Carriageworks
Australasia’s most celebrated art fair returns to Carriageworks, with over 114 exhibitors and over 500 artists on the 2025 program.
COMA
An Echo, A Prayer – 5 September until 4 October 2025
A solo exhibition by Australian artist Renée Estée reflecting on her contemplation with home as a terrain of emotional resonance and geographic complexity. Read Estée's interview with COMA Associate Director Chloe Morrissey.
QLD
Edwina Corlette
Iconic Figures: Devas, Deities and Divas – until 16 Sept 2025
The show spotlights new sculptures inspired equally by themes just blossoming within Vipoo Srivilasa's practice today, as well as those that have sustained his celebrated career for more than two and a half decades.
Outer Space
Subversive Threads – until 22 November 2025
Rae Haynes presents a powerful exploration of feminist and ancestral legacies through embroidery, blending archival research, auto-theory, and participatory practice to highlight textile work as a form of resistance.
Queensland Art Gallery
Under a Modern Sun Art in Queensland 1930s–1950s – until 25 January 2026
The exhibition features works by influential Queensland artists including Vida Lahey, William Bustard, Kenneth Macqueen, Joe Rootsey, Gwendolyn Grant, Daphne Mayo, Rose Simmonds, Margaret Olley, Margaret Cilento, and Jon Molvig, alongside contributions from visiting artists such as Sidney Nolan and Max Dupain.
VIC
NGV International
French Impressionism – until 5 October 2025
A major exhibition developed by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston charting the trajectory of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism in late nineteenth-century France.
Heide Museum
Man Ray and Max Dupain – until 9 November 2025
This exhibition brings into dialogue for the first time the contemporaneous work of American-born artist Man Ray and eminent Australian photographer Max Dupain, with a focus on their experimentation with surrealist imagery and innovative photographic techniques.
Australian Centre for Contemporary Arts
Tschabalala Self: Skin Tight – 12 September until 23 November 2025
The first Australian solo exhibition of revered American contemporary artist Tschabalala Self, with new and recent large-scale paintings and works on paper and an immersive 3-channel video installation.
Potter Museum of Art
65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art – until 22 Nov 2025
The exhibition features more than 400 works, including rarely-seen artworks and cultural objects from the University of Melbourne’s collections, 194 important loans from 78 private and public lenders and six new commissions
TarraWarra Museum of Art
Breathing Helps – until 9 November 2025
This landmark solo exhibition at TarraWarra Museum of Art brings together Rose Nolan’s monumental sculptural works for the first time, offering a dynamic and immersive exploration of space, language, and performance, complemented by new choreographic interventions.
Gertrude Glasshouse
Permanent Marker – 29 August until 27 September 2025
Tara Denny’s latest show interlaces found materials, spray paint, wax, and personal shorthand to explore themes of ownership, transformation, and non-verbal communication. Rooted in lived experience and a lineage of women artists and poets, her work embodies a private yet potent vocabulary that navigates boundaries while resisting societal constraints.
TAS
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
The Jackies: Marching into NBL26 – 19 September until 9 November 2025
Celebrating the Tasmania JackJumpers, the state’s National Basketball League (NBL) team with a display featuring the 2023/24 NBL Championship trophy, team jerseys and the 2024 Intercontinental Cup bronze medal.
MONA
Arcangelo Sassolino – until 6 April 2026
Italian sculptor Arcangelo Sassolino uses technology and mechanics to reveal the inner life of his raw materials. As you move through the exhibition, you will see various industrial materials put through their paces.
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
Oliffe Richmond – until 12 October 2025
Tasmanian-born sculptor and educator Oliffe Richmond (1919–1977) built a distinguished career in Britain, and a new selection of works on paper offers a compelling glimpse into the evolution of his artistic practice – from bold early sketches to refined studies that reflect his mature sculptural vision.
Despard Gallery
Abstraction 3 – 17 September – 11 October 2025
Presenting the third iteration of the gallery's special curated exhibitions that explores the genre of abstraction and how it remains a critical form of communication as a means to visualise complex ideas and deeper personal meanings.
SA
Art Gallery of South Australia
Dangerously Modern: Australian Women Artists in Europe 1890–1940 – until 7 Sep 2025
This groundbreaking exhibition highlights the bold contributions of artists such as Ethel Carrick Fox, Margaret Preston, and Bessie Davidson, whose vibrant explorations of colour, light, and form challenged conventions and helped shape the course of international modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
JamFactory
KURDINTHI Marketplace – 4 until 21 September 2025
Discover a collection of incredible woven works by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists from across the country at this curated marketplace coinciding with the KURDINTHI National First Nations Weaving Symposium.
ACE Gallery
Bantay-Salakay – until 20 September 2025
This exhibition from Mark Valenzuela' will see audiences enter a hostile environment of spikes, weeds, walls, shards, and noise, in an installation that combines ceramics, steel, timber, textiles, sound, and more.
WA
AGWA
Unveiled – until 15 September 2025
A special limited-time collection of works by one of Australia’s most celebrated artists, Vincent Fantauzzo. This dynamic display showcases both past and new works, offering an intimate journey through Fantauzzo’s evolving artistic styles.
Gullotti Galleries
Metamorphosis – until 26 September 2025
A new exhibition by Palla Jeroff, recently recognised as the 2024 Australian Contemporary Artist of the Year, and known for his rich colours and vigorous, textural paintwork which capture the Australian landscape and people.
NT
Outstation Gallery
Transcending light – until 3 September
This solo exhibition by Nora Wompi, a tiny ebullient woman whose art encompassed the lives of others, shifts between finely detailed tracings of her ancestral country and expressive fields of bold colour.
Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory
Gumurr’manydji Manapanmirr Djäma – on now
This powerful exhibition features the work of Muwarra Ganambarr and highlights the Yolŋu people's enduring contributions to economic independence, cultural resilience, and community strength.
ACT
NGA
Cézanne to Giacometti: Highlights from Museum Berggruen / Neue – until 21 Sep 2025
This exhibition marks the first time works from this internationally significant collection will be seen in Australia. The exhibition presents a journey through the dynamic changes in European and Australian art in the twentieth century.
Grainger Gallery
Heart Shaped Stone – from 14 August 2025
From objective to realisation, this exhibition is a result of a two-year process by Melinda Giblett focused on a month-long residency spent in the remote, beautiful and often overlooked central Italian region of Molise with the Museum of Loss and Renewal (TMoLaR) during the springtime of 2024.
