Billionaire Wants Unflattering Portrait Removed from Display at National Gallery of Australia

Gina Rinehart, Australia’s wealthiest woman, has ordered theNational Gallery of Australia(NGA), Canberra, to remove from display a portrait of herself on the grounds that it is unflattering to her. The canvas, by Aboriginal artistVincent Namatjira, is on view through July 21 in the exhibition “Vincent Namatjira: Australia in Colour,” where it appears as one of a grid of twenty-one portraits depicting noted figures who have influenced Australia’s politics and culture, among them King Charles III, Ned Kelly, Scott Morrison, and Queen Elizabeth II. The works are executed in the artist’s typical vivid colors and flat, offbeat figuration, which in this instance has lent Rinehart, a mining heiress and well-known philanthropist worth $22 billion, a double chin, a downturned mouth, and off-kilter eyes.

“I paint the world as I see it,” Namatjira, who in 2020 became thefirst Indigenous artistto win Australia’s prestigious Archibald Prize, wrote in a statement published inThe Guardianon May 16. “People don’t have to like my paintings, but I hope they take the time to look and think, ‘Why has this Aboriginal bloke painted these powerful people? What is he trying to say?’”

The NGA is sticking by Namatjira. “Since 1973, when the National Gallery acquired Jackson Pollock’sBlue Poles, there has been a dynamic discussion on the artistic merits of works in the national collection, and/or on display at the gallery,” said the museum said in a statement. “We present works of art to the Australian public to inspire people to explore, experience, and learn about art.”

The portrait was previously on public view in 2023 at the Art Gallery of South Australia in Adelaide, where it is reported to have drawn no requests for removal from Rinehart. Namatjira has depicted the billionaire several times previously, in two 2017 portraits titledGina Rinehart and Me, in which he also appears, and inThe Richest (Gina Rinehart), 2016. That work earned him a slot as a finalist for Australia’s Ramsay Art Prize, which he went on to win in 2019.

“Artistic expression is a fundamental aspect of Australian cultural life and it must include the freedom to exhibit, perform or distribute works that may be unpopular, shocking, or disturbing,” said Penelope Benton, executive director of Australia’s National Association for the Visual Arts, in a statement.

Artforumhas sought comment from Rinehart via her company, Hancock Prospecting.