THE Archibald Prize 2025 is coming to the Yarrila Arts and Museum (YAM) in 2026, showing from 1 August to 13 September.
It will be the first time all artworks in the esteemed competition for portrait painting are displayed in the one gallery in Coffs Harbour.
“YAM will be the final port of call on the regional tour, so your last chance to see the finalists in the 2025 Archibald Prize will be at Coffs Harbour,” City Cultural Services Team Leader Carrie Kibbler said.
“That makes the exhibition a special opportunity, and we expect people to travel from across the region to see the works.
“There will be no charge for admission at YAM and visitors will be able to vote for their favourite work in the People’s Choice Award.”
Mayor Nikki Williams said, “The Archibald Prize transcends art and finalists and winners are occasionally controversial, sparking plenty of water cooler debate,”
“Bringing the exhibition to our award-winning YAM is so exciting for the community.”
First awarded in 1921, the Archibald Prize was established following a bequest from former Art Gallery of NSW trustee and founder of The Bulletin magazine J.F. Archibald, whose aim was to foster portraiture, support artists and perpetuate the memory of great Australians.
The open competition has been awarded annually (with the exception of 1964 and 1980) to the best portrait of someone “distinguished in arts, letters, science or politics, painted by any artist resident in Australasia”.
Entries to the Archibald Prize must be painted in the past year from at least one live sitting.
The trustees of the Art Gallery of NSW judge the entries and the winner receives $100,000.
Archibald Prize finalists are also eligible for the Packing Room Prize and the People’s Choice award.
Finalists are displayed at the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney before touring selected venues across NSW and Victoria.
The winner of the Archibald Prize 2025 was Julie Fragar for “Flagship Mother Multiverse (Justene)”, while the Packing Room Prize was awarded to Abdul Abdullah for “No mountain high enough”.
By Andrea FERRARI
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