SYDNEY.- The Art Gallery of New South Wales and the National Gallery of Australia have announced a landmark collaboration that will see significant works by internationally renowned artists Edvard Munch and Njideka Akunyili Crosby shared between the two institutions.

Under the agreement, Man with horse 1918 by Norwegian master Edvard Munch will be on special loan from the National Gallery to the Art Gallery, with the institutions participating in an alternating cycle of loans, including the Art Gallery’s reciprocal loan of Na Parlour (In the parlor) 2025 by Njideka Akunyili Crosby.

One of the most significant international artworks to enter an Australian public collection in recent decades, Man with horse was gifted to the National Gallery in 2024 by philanthropist Geoff Ainsworth AM. A momentous addition to the Art Gallery’s collection, Na Parlour (In the parlor) was acquired in 2025 with funds generously provided by Ainsworth and his wife Johanna Featherstone.

This partnership reflects Ainsworth’s vision that the works be shared between the Art Gallery and National Gallery, enabling broader public access and fostering an ongoing cultural exchange between two of Australia’s leading cultural institutions.

The collaboration begins with Munch’s Man with horse now on display at the Art Gallery, while Akunyili Crosby’s Na Parlour (In the parlor) will be presented at the National Gallery in the future.

Art Gallery of New South Wales Director Maud Page said: ‘We are grateful to Geoff Ainsworth and Johanna Featherstone for their continued support, which has made both this collaboration and the acquisition of Na Parlour (In the parlor) possible. We are delighted to partner with our colleagues at the National Gallery of Australia to expand access to these extraordinary and globally significant works for audiences in Sydney and Canberra.





‘Before entering the National Gallery collection, Edvard Munch’s Man with horse remained largely in private hands after 1938 and has only rarely been seen publicly, making this loan a remarkable opportunity for Art Gallery visitors to experience a landmark work of European modernism.’

National Gallery of Australia Director Nick Mitzevich said: ‘The National Gallery is proud to share Edvard Munch’s luminous Man with horse with the Art Gallery of New South Wales and looks forward to welcoming Njideka Akunyili Crosby’s stunning Na Parlour (In the parlor) to Canberra.

'Together, these reciprocal loans demonstrate how collaboration between Australia’s leading cultural institutions can broaden access to world class art for our audiences. This partnership, through the extraordinary generosity of Geoff Ainsworth and Johanna Featherstone, reflects a shared commitment to ensuring exemplary works of art are experienced by as many Australians as possible.’

Painted in 1918, Man with horse is a major late work by Edvard Munch (1863–1944), one of the most influential artists of the modern era. The painting reflects his exploration of the relationship between humans and the natural world, rendered through vivid colour, expressive brushwork and symbolist imagery.

Born in Nigeria in 1983 and based in Los Angeles, Njideka Akunyili Crosby is a celebrated contemporary artist acclaimed for her richly layered paintings that examine identity, migration and memory through a distinctive visual language that combines painting, collage and photographic transfer. In June 2026, Akunyili Crosby was revealed as the official portrait artist behind the first ever dual portrait of Barack and Michelle Obama, commissioned for the Obama Presidential Centre in Chicago and unveiled as part of the Centre's opening celebrations. Na Parlour (In the parlor) is the first work by Akunyili Crosby to enter an Australian collection.

‘Na Parlour (In the parlor) is a painting that gives heroic scale to two young people as they play and learn against the backdrop of a turbulent world. It is a deeply considered painting of hope and possibility and one we are proud and lucky to share with our own multi-generational audiences across the years to come,’ said Page.

Edvard Munch’s Man with horse 1918 is currently on display in the Naala Nura building at the Art Gallery of New South Wales until April 2027. Njideka Akunyili Crosby’s Na Parlour (In the parlor) 2025 is also on display at the Art Gallery in a new collection display, The Edge of Things, until 9 May 2027, before travelling to the National Gallery of Australia at a later date.