
Images - NGV
If you're looking for something to do on a Friday night,
NGV Friday Nights could fit the bill. It's an event where you get to see and hear some of Australia's best bands and performers play live in the Great Hall at the NGV, dine at the Lourinhã pop-up at Garden Restaurant and enjoy after-hours access to art exhibitions. Perfect timing right now where you can see over 70 works by Picasso alongside over 100 works by his contemporaries at the 2022 Melbourne Winter Masterpieces® exhibition
The Picasso Century.
It's not often Picasso comes our way so don't miss seeing these masterpieces. The exhibition charts Picasso's extraordinary career in dialogue with the many artists, poets and intellectuals with whom he interacted throughout the 20th century, including Guillaume Apollinaire, Georges Braque, Salvador Dalí, Alberto Giacometti, Françoise Gilot, Valentine Hugo, Marie Laurencin, Dora Maar, André Masson, Henri Matisse, Dorothea Tanning and Gertrude Stein.
Make a full evening of it by making a reservation and dining at
Bar Lourinhã at the NGV. They offer a bespoke menu designed by executive chef Matt McConnell, celebrating Mediterranean flavours and Victorian Produce. The set menu features contemporary versions of Spanish classics composed of seasonal and locally-sourced ingredients. Hop across to the Great Hall and enjoy the Yering Station Wine Bar with a menu of fine wines from the Yarra Valley. Or you could opt for a unique wine flight tasting experience including varieties of Pinot Noir, Shiraz and Chardonnay.
The choices are many with the Pommery Champagne Bar in the Gallery Kitchen where you can indulge in Pommery Pops at the Pommery Cart. Again inspired by Mediterranean flavours, you'll find a menu of share plates and substantial meals throughout the evening including Jamon & manchego croquetas, spiced beef Albondigas, empanadas and churros. The perfect way to end the evening could be looking up at the city lights and night sky, warm under blankets and heaters as you sip on a mulled wine, dessert wine at the Outdoor Terrace bar on the Garden Terrace.
Following is the remaining entertainment program since NGV Friday Nights began on 10 June (ending 7 Oct 2022), and you can make all your
bookings here or follow the links given; all events beginning at 6pm.
Take a look at the NGV's Facebook
event page where you'll find many other Picasso related events like the
Relaxed Sessions, and
Perspectives on Picasso events that gives you a complete experience of the exhibition.
Entertainment kicks off with Polly and the Pockets who have been shaking up dance floors all over Melbourne so prepare for groovy rhythms, quirky tones and toe-tapping-head-bopping goodness. If you're after the darker fringes of instrumental music, drifting from funk to spiritual jazz and through to psychedelic fuzz rock, The Seven Ups are your soundtrack to the dance floor at the end of the world
For lovers of jazz, Solomon Sisay is a word-class Ethio-jazz muso who shot to fame after being the chosen saxophone player for Axumite Band, a legendary outfit in Ethiopia. If you're after music that speaks to the soul with an oozing honey pot of silky vocals, lush soundscapes and raw emotion, Velvet Bloom is the one for you. The links above has all the information about the bands and performers which will perhaps help you choose which night you'd like to attend. Then again, it's also good to try something new and discover a new passion.