The National Gallery presents a world-first opportunity to experience the full cycle of 20 monumental tapestries by renowned Australian artist Arthur Boyd.

Boyd commissioned the tapestries, part of his extensive artistic exploration of the life of Saint Francis, from the Manufactura de Tapeçarias de Portalegre, Portugal, and they were purchased by the National Gallery in 1975. This exhibition marks the inaugural presentation of the complete series.

At 2.5 by 3.4 metres, each tapestry is a scene in the artist’s retelling of the life of one of the most venerated figures in human history, St Francis of Assisi. Woven at a scale more than 20 times larger than Boyd’s original source images, and each containing between 4 and 8.5 million stitches, the finished textiles are a testament to the collaborative process of artistic creation.

Arthur Boyd: tapestries, and the accompanying publication, illuminate one of Boyd’s most ambitious artistic undertakings and his intensely creative practice.

This exhibition shows these astonishing tapestries alongside lithographs, pastels and drawings that demonstrate the creative and technical processes involved in their translation across media.