Every country has its major art awards. Italy has its Golden Lion. France has the Prix Marcel Duchamp. Australia, meanwhile, has the Archibald Prize.
They awarded the major prize this year to ... um, this:
Yes, this is officially the "best" painting in Australia in 2026:
This prestigious award dates back more than a century and carries a significant cash prize with it. It's meant to recognize the best artistic talent Australia has to offer. The paintings are put on display at the government-funded Art Gallery of New South Wales for the general public to see.
The Guardian reports on this year's winner:
Richard Lewer has been awarded the 2026 Archibald prize for his portrait of Pitjantjatjara elder, traditional healer and senior artist Iluwanti Ken.
The New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based artist - a six-time Archibald finalist - was announced as the winner of the $100,000 prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on Friday. The judging panel, comprised of the gallery's trustees, selected the work unanimously from a field of 59 finalists whittled down from 1,034 entries.
Here's the subject of the illustrious work of art:
Guys, it really appears that they're serious about this painting. This is the director of the New South Wales government-run gallery, heaping praise upon it:
What can be said? You see the picture. You see the strength of it, you see the poise. You see all of the things that we know makes Australia unique in the world.
Yes, it's certainly a unique painting!
Before you think that there simply weren't any good paintings to choose from, please note that the painting below — a depiction from the monumental Shakespeare tragedy Hamlet — won the second-place designation in the Archibald contest:
Second place!!
Here are a few past entries from 1925-1950:
Credit: Australian government / Art Gallery of New South WalesCredit: Australian government / Art Gallery of New South WalesCredit: Australian government / Art Gallery of New South Wales
I wonder what changed (apart from the woke obsession with destroying beauty). Is the Australian government, which has a land acknowledgement on its webpage for the Archibald prize, "decolonizing" art in an effort to further deflate national pride?
Alas, after more than a century of Archibald prizes, I think one commenter put it best:
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