An annual prize offered by the Art Gallery of NSW to the best portrait “preferentially of some man or woman distinguished in Art, Letters, Science or Politics, painted by any artist in Australasia during the 12 months preceeding the date fixed by the Trustees for sending in the pictures”. (words of J. F. Archibald) The giant heads of celebrities each year draw crowds of 100,000 or more. The prize is worth $35,000 and the prestige and fame is huge. The prize has a reputation for scandals and court cases. It causes artistic passions to flow, and each year 3 spin off exhibitions, the ‘Salon des Refuses’, the ‘Real Refuses’ and the ‘Bald Archies’ help to make the Archibald Prize the biggest fine arts circus in the country.