Image: David Roche Gallery, Adelaide
David Roche Gallery will present 'Salon des Refusés 2026' from 14 August to 24 October 2026 in North Adelaide, with the ticketed exhibition returning to Adelaide exclusively at the gallery. The show features more than 50 portrait and landscape paintings and is described by the gallery as the ‘alternative’ Archibald and Wynne Prize selection.
The exhibition sits within the wider program of David Roche Gallery, which continues the work of The David Roche Foundation in Adelaide and operates from 241 Melbourne Street. The gallery’s exhibition page lists 'Salon des Refusés 2026' as a touring exhibition and notes that it is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm. Tickets are available for specific dates, and the event page shows repeated daily sessions across the exhibition run.
In the gallery’s newsletter, director Robert Reason says the show is returning to Adelaide exclusively at David Roche Gallery and points to its broad range of portraiture and landscape painting by some of Australia’s leading artists. The newsletter also frames the exhibition as part of the gallery’s August program, alongside 'Fiona McIntosh: Collections' in the Roman Room. That exhibition is separate from 'Salon des Refusés 2026' and is listed as a free exhibition from 28 July to 29 August.
David Roche Gallery’s exhibition listing says 'Salon des Refusés 2026' is known as the popular alternative to the Archibald and Wynne Prize exhibitions at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The gallery describes the show as featuring works not selected for the official exhibition but recognised for quality, diversity and experimentation, offering insight into contemporary art practices, different approaches to portraiture and responses to the Australian landscape.
The Humanitix event page adds historical context, noting that the Salon des Refusés was initiated by the S.H. Ervin Gallery in 1992 in response to the large number of works entered in the Archibald Prize that were not selected for the official exhibition. It also says the Salon takes its name from the renegade French Impressionists of the 1860s, who mounted a breakaway exhibition from the French Academy.
For visitors planning ahead, the exhibition is scheduled for Tuesday to Saturday daytime viewing, with the first listed sessions beginning on Friday 14 August. The ticket page notes that admission to 'Salon des Refusés 2026' does not include entry to Fermoy House, which requires a separate guided house tour ticket. Limited free parking is available onsite, and the gallery states that wheelchair access is accommodated, with ambulant and non-ambulant toilets available.
