Melbourne Winter Masterpieces returns in 2026 with over 300 Cartier treasures at the NGV from 12 June to 4 October.
Melbourne’s cultural calendar just secured one of its most glittering additions yet. The announcement of Melbourne Winter Masterpieces 2026 confirms the largest exhibition on Cartier ever staged in Australia will take over the National Gallery of Victoria, with more than 300 resplendent pieces on exclusive display, including jewels and objects that have never been seen in the country.
Cartier arrives direct from London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, bringing together jewels, tiaras, necklaces, brooches, timepieces and design drawings that demonstrate why the brand has maintained its reputation for unparalleled design excellence and craftsmanship. Pieces owned and worn by Elizabeth Taylor, Rihanna, Princess Margaret, The Duchess of Windsor, Dame Nellie Melba, the Maharaja of Patiala and American heiress Barbara Hutton will be part of the exhibition.
Melbourne Winter Masterpieces: Cartier
- Where: NGV International, Melbourne
- When: 12 June – 4 October 2026
- Tickets: here
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A major highlight of Melbourne Winter Masterpieces: Cartier will be a display of more than 20 magnificent tiaras, including Cartier’s celebrated Scroll tiara from 1902, worn by Clementine Churchill at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953 and by Rihanna on the cover of W magazine in 2016. Other standouts include the Sun tiara of 1907 with a 32-carat fancy intense yellow diamond at its centre, and the Art Deco Halo tiara of 1934, inspired by ancient Egypt and owned by Her Highness the Begum Aga Khan III.
Elizabeth Taylor’s 1951 necklace, gifted by her third husband Mike Todd in 1957, features a geometric latticework design of diamonds showcasing seven Burmese rubies. Taylor described it as like the sun, lit up and made of red fire. Princess Margaret’s intricate diamond rose clip brooch from 1938, worn at her sister’s coronation, will also be on display alongside exceptional jewels belonging to Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, including her famous Flamingo brooch from 1947 and her 1949 Panther sapphire clip brooch featuring an impressive 152.35-carat Kashmir cabochon sapphire.
Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba will be featured as an early client of Cartier, with necklaces and bodice ornaments she owned and wore both on and off stage. A signed 1902 photograph of Melba, once owned by Pierre Cartier, will be included in the exhibition.
Melbourne Winter Masterpieces has proven itself as a major cultural drawcard since launching in 2004, attracting more than eight million visitors across the series. This year’s French Impressionism exhibition has already pulled in almost 260,000 visitors, following last year’s record-breaking Yayoi Kusama show, which brought more than 570,000 people through the doors.
The Melbourne Winter Masterpieces: Cartier exhibition design is a collaboration between the NGV, Studio Sabine Marcelis and CLOUD, two multidisciplinary design practices based in Rotterdam. The design will be inspired by colour, light and materiality, reflecting Cartier’s expansive network of cultural and gemological sources.
For more information, head here.
