The best free museums and art galleries in Melbourne

Take a cultural tour of Melbourne’s world-class museums, edgy artist-run spaces and blockbuster exhibitions without spending a cent.

A couple in a gallery looking up at a sign that says count down.
A large hall with a stained glass ceiling.

NGV International

Old and new, beautiful and challenging, NGV International brings a world of art to Melbourne. The city’s premier art gallery has an ever-changing slew of free exhibits to peruse. Browse the permanent collection of international art and be sure to mark the huge free Triennial exhibition in your calendar (13 December 2026- 11 April 2027). Then explore homegrown art and exhibitions at the Ian Potter Centre: NGV.

An exhibit displaying old movie cameras and projectors.

ACMI

From films to video games, ACMI celebrates screen culture past and present. Get behind the camera at ACMI’s free exhibition, The Story of the Moving Image. From the birth of film to today’s digital wonders, there’s more than a century of movie history to explore. And you can get hands-on at this fun cinema showcase, with animation and sound effects to play with.

Blurred person in motion walking past a wall of shelving displaying art and craft objects, a wooden service counter in the foreground.

Craft Victoria

This hidden design hub is a shop and a gallery rolled into one. Craft Victoria hosts regular free exhibitions showcasing work by the most talented makers from all over the country. Exhibitions feature the likes of ceramics, woodwork, textiles and one-of-a-kind jewellery. Then peruse the store and pick up your very own treasure to take home. Check the full program for the current and upcoming exhibitions.

A table in a gallery covering in round shell-like coloured glass pieces.

Tolarno Galleries

For a small gallery, Tolarno sure has hosted some big names in art. Step inside this hidden space to see incredible exhibitions of contemporary art and design. The early days saw the likes of Picasso, Bonnard and Matisse gracing the walls of the gallery. More recently, art lovers admired works by legendary Aussie artist Patricia Piccinini. Whoever is showing, you're bound to see something special.

A wall covered in framed images and photographs and displayed very close together.

Art and Heritage Collection Tour

See a Foster's beer tower from the good old days, retro Moomba Monarch crowns and a bottle of spumante dating back to who knows when. For the first time ever, City of Melbourne's Art and Heritage Collection is opening its doors to the public for free guided tours. This is your chance to access to some of Melbourne’s most weird and wonderful treasures and historical archives.

Buxton Contemporary

Explore a stunning collection of Australian art at this Southbank gallery. Head to the Buxton Contemporary website to see what exhibitions are coming up. Past shows have featured film, sculptures, photography and more.

People walking past City Gallery, located within the Melbourne Town Hall building in Swanston Street.

City Gallery

The City Gallery presents free, quarterly exhibitions on city life; past and present. Pop in to the gallery at Melbourne Town Hall to see the city's collection, an eclectic range of 13,000 artworks and artefacts.

A tall brick building with people outside and a large detailed entrance.

Science Gallery Melbourne

Mix a dose of science, with a dash of art, and a pinch of innovation and you get Science Gallery Melbourne. This is where art and science meet. A unique cultural space, it aims to inspire curiosity and critical thinking through the fusion of art and science. Part of Melbourne University, it’s designed to engage young people in the creative industries and science.

Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA)

From music to educational talks, screenings and more the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) will have you coming back again and again. Spot the iconic rust-red building along Southbank and head in to explore local and international art. Keep an eye out for pop-up events and teachings.

The glass-panelled entrance to the Victorian Police Museum.

Victoria Police Museum

Explore the state's crime history at this free museum in Docklands. History buffs will be amazed by Australia's largest collection of Kelly Gang armour. Dig through major investigations and learn how animals have served in the police force all the way back to the 1960s.

Melbourne's best small, independent and artist-run galleries

Person walking past artworks on a gallery wall.

Stephen McLaughlan Gallery

Curated contemporary art space in the iconic Nicholas Building.

The exterior of an art gallery with stained glass arch above the door and art on the walls inside

Flinders Lane Gallery

Exhibiting collectable artworks and featuring solo exhibitions every three weeks.

Framed drawing for sale on the white wall of Outre Gallery.

Outre Gallery

Alternative art gallery specialising in lowbrow, pop surrealism and underground art.

Pictures on a wall in an art gallery.

West End Art Space

A contemporary art gallery with a focus on living artists that strive for excellence.

Interior of Arc One Gallery displaying bright artworks hanging on a white wall.

ARC ONE Gallery

A commercial gallery in Flinders Lane showing contemporary Australian art.

Dark image showing parts a body - leg, arms, torso - against a dark background.

Kings Artist-Run Initiative

Space for contemporary art practice and gallery showcasing experimental projects.

Two people standing in a gallery space with displays of Indian sculptures.

Mystik River Gallery

Specialising in the ancient art of Indian sculpting.

Gallery space displaying framed art on the walls, and small sculptures on shelves and tables.

Bridget McDonnell Gallery

A gallery exhibiting early and modern Australian art.

Exterior of an old building with columns and a modern geometric extension.

RMIT Gallery

Engaging contemporary art exhibitions featuring both emerging and established artists.

More free museums

Neo-classical pediment and columns of College of Surgeons' Museum building.

College of Surgeons Museum

An exhibition of surgical objects and memorabilia.

The glass-panelled entrance to the Victorian Police Museum.

Victoria Police Museum

Explore the social history of policing through interactive displays and over 300 collection items.

Looking out through floor to ceiling glass windows onto buildings around a courtyard, part of the Mary MacKillop Heritage Centre.

Mary MacKillop Spirituality Centre

A place of inspiration and vitality, that promotes the spirit and charism of Saint Mary MacKillop.

Old-fashioned wooden chemist's counter with cabinets containing jars behind.

Medical History Museum

A free museum focusing on medicine's contribution to scientific discovery and community wellbeing.

The best free exhibitions

A person's hands holding up a timber-framed oil painting of a farmland landscape with blue skies.
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Maria Radun: In the Moment

Oil paintings inspired by the diverse landscapes of Victoria's Mornington Peninsula.

Installation view of the Spartans & Anzacs exhibition at the Shrine of Remembrance, with people walking around the space, reading panels and looking at displays.
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Spartans & Anzacs

This exhibition invites reflection on the enduring values forged in conflict.

Black and white photograph of a busy Melbourne city intersection with trams, cars, people crossing the road, and buildings, dating from around the 1950s or 1960s.
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Making Modern Melbourne

This free exhibition examines the tumultuous twentieth century in Melbourne.

Close-up view of a hand-woven wall covering featuring a textured beige background with minimalist geometric designs.
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Camille Laddawan & Kokoro Kimura (JP): Aura

An exhibition of new works by Camille Laddawan and Kokoro Kimura (JP).

A realist artwork of mandarins nestled in white fabric.
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Genevieve Gadd-Carolan: Always A Student

A reflection of the commitment to the lifelong pursuit of learning and artistic discovery.

A black and white photograph of a family eating a meal at the family dining table circa 1950.
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You Have a New Memory

An exhibition that explores how and why we remember, through the lens of the Library's collections.

Light grey textured bark fragments placed on a warm, golden-brown metallic or painted surface.
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Jessica Row: If a tree falls in the urban forest

An exhibition by Jessica Row inspired by the trees in naarm/Melbourne.

Painting of a large brick building on a corner with a tree in the foreground and some parked cars.
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Victorian Artists Society Christmas Salon

This showcase celebrates small and affordable artworks perfect for holiday gifting.

Artwork showing a composite of illustrations of heads and portraits with wooden planks.
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5/6: A Celebration of Friendship Through Art

Five individuals working in different ways, showing their distinct views of the world through art.

Artwork showing orange and yellow tones of abstract paint with a small white ball lodged into the painting.
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Suzanne .k. Franklin: Slivers of Time

Suzanne .k. Franklin pushes the boundaries between drawing and painting in Slivers of Time.

Two women in a gallery with white walls and highly polished black floors observing two pieces of abstract photographic art hung on the wall.
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Andrew Browne: Lux Sublimata

A new exhibition of photo-based imagery on satin banners by Melbourne artist Andrew Browne.

Abstract artwork.
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Twenty Melbourne Painters Society 108th Annual Exhibition

The 108th Annual Exhibition showcases current members’ work in the renovated VAS Galleries.

Portrait of a woman with her face painted blue and embellished with gold stars, wearing a colourful, fan-like headdress.
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Passage: The Art of Atong Atem

NGV presents the first-ever major solo exhibition of contemporary artist Atong Atem.

An expressive, semi-abstract oil painting featuring a vibrant crowd of figures in warm red, yellow, and cool blue tones against a glowing background.
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Connections Art Exhibition

Connections is an art exhibition, for a cause that matters.

Looking over a blurred shoulder at a table with books displayed.
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World of the Book

Experience the rare, the sacred and the iconic in this one-of-a-kind exibition.

Artwork resembling a strange dry landscape with rock formations jutting out and pinkish sky.
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Lea Rose: Direl Lake Tyrrell

Exploring collective responsibility, cultural injustices and challenges Australia’s national psyche.

Flinders Street Station illuminated blue at night.

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A young boy and girl pointing to triceratops bones in the Museum.

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People high up in a tree with red flowers
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a/part: Hoda Afshar

A selection of photographic and video projects by Melbourne-based artist Hoda Afshar.

Head and shoulders of a stuffed thylacine
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Jodie Grillmeier: Remembering the Thylacine

Photographic portraits from museum collections reflecting the legacy of the thylacine.

Old black-and-white photo of people seated on a bus, two women chatting, a man looking straight ahead.
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The Green Bus

Exhibition tracing Andrew Chapman's 55-year photographic journey through the streets of Melbourne.

Abstract artwork of flowers in reds and pinks.
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Jo Davenport: Under the Same Sky

Capturing the changeable experience of landscape through gesture, colour and embodied memory.

A woman walking through a display with shelves of military-style food packages.
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Taste of Combat

Honouring the vital work of the Catering Corps and the evolution of military food.

Historical technical drawing of a rhinoceros by Albrecht Dürer.

Albrecht Dürer: Treasures from the NGV Collection

Go behind the scenes at the NGV for a rare look at highlights from its Albrecht Dürer collection.

People looking at a gallery wall of small white square embroidered handkerchiefs.
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Sparks in the Dark: 260 Weeks of Resilience

Celebrating the resilience of women living with the enduring impacts of the War in Afghanistan.

An asymmetrical pearl necklace featuring unique, double-pointed pearls arranged in a single strand that cascades into decorative loops and rings along one side.
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Lean In

A contemporary jewellery exhibition of three of Australia's most accomplished jewellers.

Two people seated below a neon sign.
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The Story of the Moving Image

A permanent exhibition that journeys through the past, present and future of the moving image.

Young people wandering through a gallery exhibition.
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MSDx Summer

Explore hundreds of student projects in one of Australia's largest design exhibitions.

Animator and filmmaker Adam Elliot working on a claymation set, adjusting characters.
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Making Memoir of a Snail

Explore handmade sets, props and characters from Adam Elliot's claymation film Memoir of a Snail.

A collection of four small sculptural artworks displayed on a black surface.
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Alter State: The Collections Project

An exhibition exploring themes of access, memory, performance, identity and representation.

Four fashion models posing in Australian Open tennis-inspired clothing with a tennis stadium in the background, and distinctive Melbourne road signs in the foreground.

City Square Runway 3: AO Edit

Australian Open's on-court style will be on show at this free runway show, as part of M/FW.

Selection of cassette tapees with handmade covers.
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Rebel Heart: Love Letters and Other Declarations

A stirring exhibition exploring romantic love through the State Library's extraordinary archive.

Painting of a study with book-lined shelves, standard lamp, table and chair.
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Amanda Hyatt VAS: Windows of Life

An exhibition of artworks perpetuating the impressionist realism of the early Heidelberg School.

A smiling woman in an Australian military uniform, adorned with medals, holding a large cardboard box.
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HERstory: Remembering Australia’s Military Women

This exhibition highlights women in Victoria and their stories of service 1942 to the present day.

The interior of a ply-lined warehouse with artworks displayed on ply shelves and benches and people walking around.
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Loose Fit: Contemporary Architecture Projects from East Asia

An exhibition exploring alternative approaches to architecture in an era of climate change.

A still from a videogame depicting a Chinese soldier fighting two warriors in front of an ancient Chinese temple.
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Feng Mengbo: Long March Restart

An free exhibition that playfully reimagines modern Chinese history as a videogame.

Two fashion models posing backstage in tailored neutral-toned blazers and chic dark sunglasses, with a third fashion model wearing a dark suit.

City Square Runway 2: After Hours

An ode to the fashion-forward trailblazers who give the city its unmistakable style after dark.

A person in a black suit holds a large, green ape head sculpture behind them, on a city sidewalk with graffiti-covered walls in the background.
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Rehearsing the City Exhibition

See archival photos from Victoria’s collections, plus work by contemporary street photographers.

Black and white photograph from the 1960s of model, Twiggy, wearing a mini-dress at the Melbourne Cup.
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Swinging 60s

This exhibition looks at what it was like to live in Victoria during the 1960s.

A black and white photograph of stacked basic grocery items, as art.
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Recovering Art

A creative exploration of the development of art therapy since the 1940s.

Last updated on Thu 11 Jun 2026

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