Darlinghurst fits a lot of art into a few streets. The National Art School, King Street Gallery on William and Stanley Street Gallery are all in the suburb, so you can see three very different spaces on foot. This week, King Street Gallery and Stanley Street Gallery are your two stops. The NAS Gallery is between listed exhibitions until The Postgrad Show opens on Friday 6 November, so that’s when the full three-gallery afternoon comes together.
Here’s how to plan it, with the dates that line up and what to check before you head out.
Dates at a glance (checked 27 October 2026)
- This week: Visit King Street Gallery (Tuesday to Saturday) and Stanley Street Gallery (Thursday to Saturday). Thursday to Saturday is when both list opening hours.
- All three galleries: Go on Friday 6 or Saturday 7 November, or Thursday 12 to Saturday 14 November, between 11am and 5pm.
- NAS before 6 November: No exhibition is listed, so check the NAS website before visiting.
Start at the National Art School
The National Art School at 156 Forbes Street is the anchor of the afternoon. Its NAS Gallery sits in a former cell block of the old Darlinghurst Gaol, and the sandstone setting is half the reason to go.
From Friday 6 to Sunday 15 November, The Postgrad Show 2026 features work by this year’s BFA (Honours), MFA and DFA graduates. It’s free and open every day from 11am to 5pm, with works shown across the NAS campus.
Gaol and campus tours were listed as unavailable at the time of writing. The gallery’s top floor is reached by lift, and visitors who need accessible parking are asked to call ahead.
Continue to King Street Gallery on William
King Street Gallery on William is at 177–185 William Street. It runs a changing program of exhibitions, so the walls can look completely different from one month to the next. Euan Macleod’s In Darkness Let Me Dwell runs from 27 October to 21 November.
The gallery usually opens Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm, with Sunday and Monday by appointment. Check the website for visiting arrangements before you build your afternoon around it.
Finish at Stanley Street Gallery
Stanley Street Gallery at 1/52–54 Stanley Street rounds things off. Chrystal Rimmer’s Upwelling is on until 14 November. The gallery usually opens Thursday to Saturday, 11am to 5pm, during exhibitions, and it may close between shows while one comes down and the next goes up.
That makes it the stop with the shortest opening window, so plan your day around it. The gallery’s website also has artist interviews and virtual exhibitions, which are handy for previewing a show before you arrive.
Practical Tips
- Pick your day carefully. Stanley Street Gallery’s Thursday-to-Saturday hours set the pace. From 6 November, those days also overlap with The Postgrad Show at NAS and King Street Gallery’s hours.
- Check all three websites in the week you go. Programs turn over regularly, and a gallery between shows may be closed or partly hung.
- Getting there by public transport. NAS suggests catching a bus to Taylor Square on Oxford Street and walking down Forbes Street. It also describes Kings Cross and Museum stations as about a 10-minute walk away.
- Cycling. NAS is close to the Bourke Street cycleway and has bike racks on site.
- Driving. There’s no public parking at NAS. It points visitors to paid street parking and the St Vincent’s Hospital car park nearby.
- Wear comfortable shoes. The afternoon is easiest on foot, and Darlinghurst has its share of hills.
Make an Afternoon of It
Three galleries is a manageable amount of art: enough to feel like a proper outing, but not so much that everything blurs together. With a walk through Darlinghurst’s streets between each stop, it’s an easy way to spend a few hours in the inner east.
If you’d like to stay on for a meal or a drink, our ultimate guide to Darlinghurst covers the rest of the suburb. And if the forecast turns, these rainy day escapes across the Eastern Suburbs will keep you busy indoors.