Masters in Melbourne

The tour starts at 4.00pm on Tuesday 5 September, at the Langham Hotel, Melbourne.

The tour ends at 1.00pm on Friday 8 September, with a transfer to Melbourne Tullamarine Airport.

We meet in the hotel at 4.00pm this afternoon for an introductory lecture by Christopher Menz. Afterwards, we enjoy dinner together at Pure South overlooking the river in Southbank with a unique menu based on stunning produce from King Island, Flinders Island and Tasmania. (D)

This morning we have a private before-hours visit to the NGV’s Pierre Bonnard exhibition. This blockbuster show presents more than 100 iridescent paintings by the celebrated French artist within immersive scenography by Paris-based designer India Mahdavi. Paintings, drawings, photographs, folding screens and early cinema will bring modern France to life with startling beauty and vivid colour. After a quick break for a morning coffee, Christopher then takes us on a tour of the gallery’s collection of Viennese art and design. Our visit to the NGV concludes with the Rembrandt: True to Life exhibition, which traces the evolution of this 17th-century Dutch master’s vast oeuvre from his early years in Leiden through to his final years in Amsterdam. This comprehensive study offers more than 100 etchings, drawings and paintings – including his iconic 1659 Self-Portrait – drawn from significant international loans and the NGV’s permanent collection. After a break this afternoon to further explore the gallery or enjoy the boutiques of the CBD, we meet together in the early evening for dinner in our hotel before making our way to Southbank Theatre for a world-first theatrical experience, as Artistic Director Anne-Louise Sarks directs two separate Caryl Churchill works – What If If Only, the micro-meditation on grief and possibility starring Alison Bell; and Escaped Alone, a visionary play starring Helen Morse about afternoon tea and the apocalypse. (B, D)

Performance details
Venue: Southbank Theatre, The Sumner
Titles: What If If Only, starring Lucy Ansell, Alison Bell and Steve Mouzakis; Escaped Alone, starring Kate Hood, Debra Lawrance, Helen Morse and Deidre Rubenstein.

We begin our day exploring the exclusive Chagall exhibition, woven through the Jewish Museum of Australia’s galleries alongside an exhibition by Archibald Prize winner Yvette Coppersmith. International curator and art historian Jade Niklai has transformed the museum into a Chagall-inspired dreamscape that highlights the rich colours and timeless themes of his oeuvre, with original works and poems alongside bespoke immersive experiences, including reproductions of his stained-glass windows from churches and cathedrals around Europe. We then make our way to TREAND at Baxter Valley Estate, a small boutique winery located at the top of the Mornington Peninsula. We enjoy a leisurely three-course lunch inside the cellar door, with matching wines from the estate. After lunch, we continue to the McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery, a private endeavour of the May family in the 1970s, which has been mostly supported through philanthropy – notably, the generous contributions over the decades by Dame Elisabeth Murdoch. The 16-hectare open-air museum displays over 100 large sculptures in park and bushland settings, including ground-breaking works by Inge King, Patricia Piccinini and Ken Unsworth. Returning to the hotel, the evening is at leisure. (B, L)

On our final morning, we visit the Justin Art House Museum – the private in-home collection of architects Charles and Leah Justin. PAPER: The Permanence of the Temporary is showing in the main gallery. With over 60 paper-based works from the JAHM collection, the exhibition examines the temporal and fragile nature of paper, and how this contrasts with the permanence associated with art. We then continue by coach to the airport, arriving at 1.00pm. Those staying on in Melbourne can be dropped at the hotel on the way to the airport. (B)