Mitch Cairns' portrait of artist Agatha Gothe-Snape, his partner, has won the Archibald Prize.
The president of the Art Gallery of NSW's board of trustees, David Gonski, announced the striking painting had won the $100,000 prize.
The other painting the trustees deliberated over before awarding Cairns the prize - Jun Chen's portrait of veteran Sydney art dealer Ray Hughes - was highly commended.
They were among 43 finalists from 822 entries in the country's best-known portrait prize.
Last week, Peter Smeeth's portrait of Today show host Lisa Wilkinson won the $1500 Packing Room award.
The winner of the Wynne Prize for landscape painting or figure sculpture is Indigenous artist Betty Kuntiwa Pumani for Antara, while the Sulman Prize for subject, genre or mural went to Joan Ross for Oh History, You Lied To Me.
More to come