Auckland Art Gallery’s Facing Modernity comes to Shepparton Art Museum.
There are 37 world famous artworks currently displayed in the regional Victorian town of Shepparton.
Danny Lacy, Artistic Director at the Shepparton Art Museum (affectionately known as SAM) said it is “just wild” to walk into work each day and see “a couple of Picasso’s on the wall.”
The exhibition is on tour from the Auckland Art Gallery, with thirty-seven works of painting and sculpture currently adorning the walls of the newly refurbished Shepparton Art Museum.
Facing Modernity: Degas to Picasso in Shepparton
- When: 23 May – 20 September 2026
- Where: Shepparton Art Museum
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“The Auckland team have put together this touring show that shows an overview of modern art from 1860 through to mid 1960,” Lacy says.
“It gives a great snapshot of those changing styles and influences through the development of modern art. It’s a beautiful show.”
The exhibition “encapsulates the history of art.”
There is more to curating an exhibition of this magnitude than meets the eye. So how exactly do you get a Dalí to Shepparton?
“Well, you just have to know who to ask,” Lacy says.
Lacy’s connection with SAM started long before his current role as Artistic Director, beginning his journey as a curator alongside Kirsten Paisley at what used to be the Shepparton Art Gallery.
“She was fantastic to work with, a really wonderful director and really supported me as an emerging curator at that time,” he says.
“Kirsten and I changed the name of Shepparton Art Gallery to Shepparton Art Museum. We had a big vision back then.
“It’s really cool to come back and work at the same gallery twice. It’s obviously completely different now with the brand-new building we’ve got.
“It’s been great to have an understanding of the place and be able to have a big impact on our creative program and be dreaming big.”
Paisley, who went on to work at the Auckland Art Gallery just recently finished in her role as director. Lacy kept in touch with her, and when the opportunity came up for the exhibition to travel to Australia, he pitched SAM as a contender for the collection.
“One of the cool elements is that Auckland Art Gallery had this incredibly generous bequest by two major collectors, Josie and Julian Robertson from New York. They had an apartment that overlooked the park and an amazing collection of modernist artworks,” he says.
The New York collectors also had a real affinity for New Zealand and could have donated to MoMA, but instead chose to give their works to the Auckland Art Gallery. 11 of those pieces are now part of this exhibition.
There are some big names attached to the exhibit: Picasso, Dalí, Degas, Matisse. However, it is the lesser-known works that have impacted SAM’s Artistic Director.
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“There are some big hitters, but it’s the artists I wasn’t so familiar with, like Harold Gilman’s Mother and Child. There is so much power, in terms of the colours used and the form, it is the simplicity that is quite remarkable,” Lacy says.
This exhibition is only visiting Shepparton on its Australian tour.
“I feel like SAM represents our community, and to host these Australian exclusive shows is really amazing,” Lacy says.
“To share this with our local community and become a beacon of cultural tourism, to bring more people to the town. The social and economic impact is really important.”
“I remember going to Canberra on a school trip in 1993 to see an exhibition called Surrealism by Night. To see all those works by Dalí was unbelievable.
“Now, I am the Artistic Director at one of the leading regional art museums. If you can get exposed to some sort of art at an early age, you just never know how it may affect you.”
“Shepparton lives in the nexus of Victoria. We want to bring people from Bendigo and Ballarat, but also Albury and up from Melbourne.”
“It’s a cool time to come and see what we’ve been doing here at SAM.”
Take yourself and those you love to catch Facing Modernity: Degas to Picasso at the Shepparton Art Museum until September 20.
For more information, head here.
This article was made in partnership with SAM.
