These portraits - which learning programs manager Krysia Kitch said were fan favourites - and others will be back on display to the public on Saturday when the gallery reopens their doors after five months of renovations.

The short hiatus has seen major structural work, including replacing double-glazing in the windows, the flooring inside, the waterproof membrane underneath the building, and terrazzo flooring outside the gallery entrance.

Now, just a few days before it's reopening, the final touches are being added - including the rehanging of said fan favourites. But, according to Ms Kitch, what makes a portrait a fan favourite differs for each artwork.

"People find them compelling but why they find them compelling is for different reasons," she said.

"Portraits are about people and if you think about it, as human beings we're programmed to tune into faces.

"The first thing a baby learns what to do is to focus on the parent's face. We don't lose it, interestingly ... and we also have an inbuilt curiosity about other people.

"Portraiture sort of does that. It's the story as well as the art."

Saturday also sees the launch of The Look, a new exhibit which is expected to reflect the upcoming exhibition Women in Vogue: Celebrating Sixty Years in Australia, which is set to launch next month.

Whether it's the sceptical look of Bryan Brown, the doubtful gaze of Rose Byrne, or a look of nonchalant heat from Heath Ledger, the exhibition offers the gamut of human expression, emotion and attitude through some photographs from the gallery's collection.

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"The idea of this exhibition is that interesting and attractive faces are the front to all kinds of interesting brains," curator Sarah Engledow said.

"We have actors and models but we also have gallery directors, Tilman Ruff who founded ICAN which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly, Grazia Gunn who is a Melbourne academic, we have Richard Morecroft and his partner Alison Mackay who is a painter.

"It's all very varied, the mediums are all very varied, expressions are very varied and the spheres of achievement are also varied."

Those featured include well-known Australians from politics, the arts, science, business and sport, including Ian Thorpe, Michael Hutchence, Tim Jarvis, Noni Hazlehurst, Layne Beachley and Ruby Hunter.

Each photograph, as Ms Engledow pointed out, appeared natural in terms that nobody was pulling a contemporary pose or pouting, and instead were "just facing the photographer bravely face on" to portray their look.

"What I'm interested in is that when people go around this exhibition they're going to try to put a name to the look and I think there will be a great deal of consensus because as human beings we need to be able to understand and agree on what a look is," she said.