National Gallery of Australia loans 53 Andy Warhol works for exhibition at Wanneroo Regional Gallery

Elvis is entering the building . . . in Wanneroo. So too are Marilyn Monroe, Muhammed Ali, Jackie Kennedy and Mick Jagger. Portraits of the celebrities — along with several cans of soup and a cow — are among 53 works by pop art master Andy Warhol that will be on exclusive loan to the Wanneroo Regional Gallery from the National Gallery of Australia. The $148 million collection will arrive in Perth’s northern suburbs in March for an initial three-month dedicated exhibition, Andy Warhol: Icons. But the works will remain in Wanneroo for two years with plans to showcase the collection throughout the gallery before it establishes a standalone Warhol space. Wanneroo mayor Linda Aitken said it offered people in the region unprecedented access to international treasures. “Giving people opportunities to experience significant art in their own area can ignite appreciation for art and culture and help foster the development of new creatives, new ideas, and future arts professionals,” she said. The move is part of a Federal Government project to allow audiences across the country to see artworks from the national collection that would otherwise be kept in a dark storage room in the depths of the Canberra gallery. The National Gallery has more than 155,000 works in its collection but can only display a tiny fraction of them at any one time. Wanneroo Regional Gallery was the first to lodge an expression of interest when the $11.8 million initiative aimed at sharing the sharing the national collection opened in July. The Warhol works it requested, which include a 1963 portrait of Elvis and 10 screenprints from the Campbell’s Soup I portfolio, were highly sought after. There’s also a self-portrait of Warhol from the 1970 Portraits from Artists and Photographs collection. Pearce MP Tracey Roberts said that for the first time in the National Gallery’s history, the Government was ensuring the collection didn’t stay put. “West Australians have always argued that we shouldn’t miss out just because of geography,” she said. “Every part of the nation has a right to the national collection and it’s finally happening here in Wanneroo.” Arts Minister Tony Burke said he was pleased to see one of the collection’s most valuable works — “It doesn’t get much bigger than Andy Warhol!” — as the first set to travel to WA. “With Revive, Australia’s new national cultural policy, the Government decided that instead of having some of the National Gallery’s best works kept in storage, where no one could see them, we’d start sharing them with galleries all around the country,” he said. “Sharing the national collection with the whole nation is so important, and now one of our most valuable collections is on its way to the west.” The loan program comes with funding to help regional galleries cover the costs of transporting, installing and insuring works. National Gallery director Nick Mitzevich said the Wanneroo partnership demonstrated how determined the gallery was to put its full collection on display. “Andy Warhol’s iconic painting Elvis together with screenprints of Campbell’s soup cans, celebrities, rockstars, electric chairs and flowers will be seen by a whole new generation of audiences on the west coast,” he said. “What a tremendous opportunity this program provides.” All galleries in WA were among those able to put in expressions of interest for sharing the national collection. Andy Warhol: Icons opens at the Wanneroo Regional Gallery on March 6, 2024.