The Menzies portrait by Australian artist Louis Kahan is on loan from Parliament House, one of about 5000 works valued at $80 million that are being distributed among the offices of MPs and senators.

After every election, the Department of Parliamentary Services offers the 226 federal MPs and senators their choice of Parliament House-owned art, including paintings, prints, ceramics, photographs and sculpture, for their offices.

Two government ministers - Malcolm Turnbull and Joe Hockey - declined to accept the offer of Parliament House art works.

Mr Turnbull has instead furnished his office with items from his private art collection, including an original, commissioned John Olsen painting of Sydney Harbour.

Mr Hockey has transported art of sentimental value from his old office to his new one, including a range of black and white photographs of north Sydney streetscapes and a plaque of the Battle of Beersheba.

The works MPs and senators choose offers a fascinating glimpse into their personal aesthetic.

''You're getting a succession of exercises in corporate decor,'' said Chris McAuliffe, an art historian, curator and honorary fellow at the University of Melbourne's Australia centre. ''Some of them are gentlemen's club, some of them go corporate, some of them try to say 'I've got a different side', some of them go 'there's somewhere else I'd rather be'.''

Dr McAuliffe said mementoes and conversation starters were CEO decor 101. ''It's an old school version of the Facebook timeline.''

Queensland senator Ian Macdonald's office has a giant stuffed Patagonian toothfish, also part of his private collection. He was given the fish as a symbol of the fight against the illicit trade in the alarming looking but over-fished creatures.

When Senator Macdonald was fisheries minister, he authorised a daring three-week pursuit of pirates illegally hunting toothfish in the Southern Ocean by Australian authorities.

Among shadow treasurer Chris Bowen's choices are a stencil painting by New Zealand artist Regan Tamanui, an artist with a graffiti background, called Carlton vs the Hawks. It is a manly display of an AFL player taking a bruising mark.

Dr McAuliffe said of Mr Bowen's choice: ''[It's] a classic corporate environment gesture. This art says 'I may be wearing a suit but I have another, cooler life'.''

Gracing Attorney-General George Brandis' walls are three paintings by Archibald Prize winner Bryan Westwood - a sun-drenched landscape called Near Noosa 2 and Jockey 1 and Jockey 2, two realistically rendered portraits of jockeys shown from behind.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten chose Australian works including Tim Storrier's Pacific Drift, a glowing piece exploring the theme of uncharted water, Garden Scene by Grace Cossington-Smith and Rocks, Tibooburra by Clifton Pugh.

Of Mr Shorten's picks, Dr McAuliffe said: ''Another move familiar from the corporate environment. These are all landscape images, so this a decor that reminds the hard-working bureaucrat that there's a world outside of the office. Blue-chip taste with a hint at a reflective side.''

Australian works feature heavily in the Parliament House collection, particularly landscapes and Aboriginal art. Department of Parliamentary Services secretary Carol Mills said the most popular choices for politicians were landscapes and indigenous paintings and the smattering of Arthur Boyds and Sidney Nolans owned by Parliament House.

Barnaby Joyce and Warren Truss both chose historic photographs depicting the challenges of the Australian bush.

Greens leader Christine Milne chose nature-themed pieces including a screen print by Sally Robinson of a group of King penguins, Atlas Cove - Heard Island.

Defence Minister David Johnston has a Jim Thalassoudis painting of the Australian War Memorial.