TarraWarra
Museum of Art

Visitors can explore modern, contemporary, iconic and original artworks up close and immerse themselves in art, architecture, and ideas on Country.

Explore modern and contemporary artworks up close in our award-winning gallery designed by Allan Powell. Welcoming audiences since 2003, the Museum has built a reputation for presenting a unique program of exhibitions curated to inspire curiosity and support emerging and established artists to make new work.

Connecting Art, Place and Ideas

TarraWarra Museum of Art is a unique institution within Australia. Located on Wurundjeri Country in the Yarra Valley, Victoria, it was founded by the late Eva Besen AO and Marc Besen AC, who not only gifted the award-winning purpose-built Museum designed by the late Allan Powell, they also donated nearly 600 works of Australian art from their private collection. Welcoming audiences since 2003, TarraWarra is a leading not-for-profit public art gallery that features inventive and stimulating exhibitions and programs about twentieth and twenty-first century art. 

The Way We Curate

We champion curatorial freedom and offer an intimate, sensory experience that sets the stage for visitors to appreciate and learn about original and iconic artworks up close and immerse themselves in Australian art, architecture, First Nations culture and Country. The Museum produces nationally and internationally significant and unique thought-provoking exhibitions that provide fresh perspectives on the visual arts. Drawing inspiration from our location, exemplary collection and current ideas, we aim to engage with audiences to develop a deeper understanding of the worlds that artists create. 

Commissioned Work

TarraWarra has a strong history of commissioning new work by contemporary Australian artists through both its signature Biennial – established in 2006 to champion Australian artists – and its curation of major solo exhibitions. We recognise and value First Nations peoples as the First Artists and Custodians of these lands and waters, and we proudly commission works which explore the significant Wurundjeri culture of the Yarra Valley. Our community helps us to shape the future of TarraWarra Museum of Art and make it possible for us to commission contemporary artists, deliver exciting exhibitions and creative learning programs and deepen our engagement with communities beyond the Museum.

Join our Donor Circle and support the development of major new works

The TarraWarra Biennial

Inaugurated in 2006, the TarraWarra Biennial has presented the works of more than 200 artists over the course of eight exhibitions to date. Providing a significant platform for each of its seven guest curators to identify and respond to new trends in contemporary Australian art, each iteration has had a distinctive and independent curatorial lens.