Arthur Boyd: Tapestries

The National Gallery of Australia presents a world-first opportunity to experience the full suite of 20 monumental tapestries by renowned Australian artist Arthur Boyd. 

Arthur Boyd: Tapestries will be on display in Canberra from June 20–October 18, 2026, marking the inaugural presentation of Boyd’s complete series which he created in collaboration with the Manufactura de Tapeçarias de Portalegre, Portugal.

The series, referred to as the Life of St Francis tapestries, comprises a cycle of 20 textiles produced between 1970 and 1974. Boyd commissioned the Manufactura to transform his paintings into 2.5 by 3.4 metre tapestries and they were acquired for the national collection in 1975.

The tapestries continued Boyd’s extensive artistic exploration of the life of Saint Francis of Assisi, whom he learnt about as a child. Each tapestry depicts a scene in his retelling of the life of one of the most venerated figures in human history. Woven at a scale more than 20 times larger than Boyd’s original source images, each containing between 4 and 8.5 million stitches, the finished textiles are a testament to the collaborative process of artistic creation.

Elspeth Pitt, Senior Curator, Australian Art, National Gallery: “Arthur Boyd is a celebrated figure in Australian art, and his paintings are often hung in the country’s major public art museums—his tapestries, however, have received relatively little attention. We welcome audiences to the exhibition to experience the sheer scale and technical expertise of the 20 works, which are a testament to Boyd’s artistry and the Manufactura de Tapeçarias de Portalegre’s unique tapestry-making skills that are unlike any other in the world.”

Vera Fino, Director, Manufactura de Tapeçarias de Portalegre: “At the time of production—and maybe even still today—Arthur Boyd’s tapestries are the most complex the workshop had ever made, where we pushed the medium to its limits. The Manufactura de Tapeçarias de Portalegre is excited these will finally be on display in their entirety in Australia.”

Dr Nick Mitzevich, Director, National Gallery: “The exhibition Arthur Boyd: Tapestries marks the first public display—more than 50 years after its creation—of the full series of Boyd’s tapestries. There are many acclaimed works of art in the national collection that are loved by the public however there are still corners of the collection where ‘undiscovered’ gems lie—and this series is one of those. We look forward to welcoming visitors to the National Gallery this winter to experience these important works and discovering a different aspect of Boyd’s practice.”