Vision: Art, Architecture and the National Gallery of Australia

The story of the conception of the National Gallery of Australia building - its design, construction and controversial aftermath - has all the qualities of a Promethean struggle. Planned in the open-minded 1970s but birthed in the more conventional 1980s, the National Gallery building has not always been understood or embraced.

Forty years since the opening of the National Gallery on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin, it’s time to recognise the building’s ambition, beauty and, as Phillip Goad writes, ‘dare to uncover its bones, revel in its concrete presence and retrieve its vision’.

Vision is a celebration of this significant landmark in the history of Australian architecture, exploring the gallery in its entirety - from its founding on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country to its status today as a world-renowned gallery.

Designed by John Warwicker, this elegant volume features an essay by internationally respected architectural historian Philip Goad and reflections from National Gallery curators Lucina Ward and Simeran Maxwell on the gallery’s first exhibition, alongside never-before-published images from the Gallery’s photographic archive.

Vision will appeal to lovers of art, architecture and Australian history.