The NGV is a grand modernist building where major blockbuster shows are held. The permanent collection includes a Rembrandt, a Bonnard and a Tiepolo.

The Ian Potter Centre houses NGV's extensive collection of Australian artwork, ranging from the Colonial period through to contemporary art. Galleries feature photography, prints and drawings, fashion and textiles, decorative arts, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art. Don’t miss Charles Blackman’s Alice, Heidelberg School artists and an impressive Indigenous art collection.

With its imposing red-rust structure designed by Wood Marsh, ACCA is one of the most recognisable buildings in Melbourne. Founded in 1983, and transferring to its current purpose-built premises in Southbank in 2002, the Centre is one of Australia's leading public institutions for contemporary art.

Heide Museum of Modern Art is a torch bearer for Australian modernism, but also champions contemporary Australian art – in the spirit of its founders John and Sunday Reed, patrons and collectors who fostered the local modernist movement in the 1930s and 1940s. While the focus is on Australians, international contemporary art is also exhibited.

This one-time Victoria mansion in St Kilda has been home to contemporary art since it was purchased by council in 1986, formerly under the banner Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts. Rebranded in 2015, Linden New Art is more than a gallery: there is a program of talks, meet-and-greets and in-conversation dinners, designed to connect audiences with artists.

The name says it all. Set up in the mid 80s as a not-for-profit exhibition and resource centre, the CCP still holds photography courses for beginners and those wanting to further their skills. There are five spaces within the building and at night, especially if you’re drinking at the Marquis of Lorne, you’ll view a range of works from emerging and established photographers from the Night Projection Window.