Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)

QAGOMA is the shorthand for Queensland's two state galleries, which stand about 150 metres apart on Stanley Place in the Queensland Cultural Centre at South Bank. The Queensland Art Gallery traces its origins to 1895, when it was founded as the Queensland National Art Gallery, and has occupied its present building, designed by Robin Gibson, since 1982. The Gallery of Modern Art opened next door in 2006, turning the institution into a two-campus museum.

The older building is organised around the Watermall, a long indoor water feature that leads visitors past the main exhibition rooms. Its collection includes historical Australian painting such as Richard Godfrey Rivers's Under the Jacaranda and E. Phillips Fox's Bathing Hour, alongside European work including Picasso's La Belle Hollandaise. GOMA concentrates on modern and contemporary art and is the main home of the Asia Pacific Triennial, the gallery's flagship exhibition, first held in 1993. Indigenous Australian art is a particular strength across both buildings.

Entry is free for most of the galleries, screenings and programmes, with tickets needed only for some major exhibitions and special events. Both buildings open daily from 10am to 5pm, and on Wednesday and Friday evenings the Australian Cinematheque inside GOMA screens films from 5.30pm. Free volunteer-led tours of around 40 minutes run on most days, which is a good way to get your bearings in a large collection.

Families are well served. The Children's Art Centre at GOMA presents interactive artworks and is always free, and drop-in drawing stations with materials are set up around the galleries. Couples and solo visitors can easily spend half a day moving between the two buildings, stopping at the QAG Cafe or the GOMA Bistro for lunch. Backpacks, suitcases and umbrellas have to be left in the free cloakroom, so travel light if you are coming straight from a hotel check-out.

The galleries are a short walk across Victoria Bridge from the city centre. The Cultural Centre busway station, South Brisbane railway station and the South Bank ferry terminals are all close by. The Queensland Museum, the State Library of Queensland and the Queensland Performing Arts Centre share the same cultural precinct, and South Bank Parklands begins just to the south, so it is simple to combine an art visit with a walk along the river or a swim at Streets Beach.