This is a list of finalists for the 2011 Archibald Prize for portraiture (listed is Artist – Title).

• Abdul Abdullah – Waleed Aly
• Giles Alexander – Space or bust (portrait of Sam Leach)
• Del Kathryn Barton – Mother (a portrait of Cate)
• Jason Benjamin – It's not all Henry bloody Lawson (portrait of musician Gareth Liddiard)
• Kate Beynon – Painting shirt (self-portrait)
• Natasha Bieniek – October (self-portrait)
• Deidre But-Husaim – Roy Ananda (chin support)
• Marcus Callum – Portrait of a seated woman (portrait of Vanessa Callum)
• Adam Chang – John Coetzee (Winner of the 2011 People's Choice Award)
• Zhong Chen – Self-portrait on a horse
• Adam Cullen – Charlie (portrait of barrister Charles Waterstreet)
• Lucy Culliton – Ray in Paris (portrait of art dealer Ray Hughes)
• Susanne de Berenger – Ted Robinson
• Ken Done – Me, March 2011 (self-portrait)
• Matt Doust – White Cocoon (portrait of actress Gemma Ward)
• Geoffrey Dyer – The collector, David Walsh
• Vincent Fantauzzo – Matt Moran (Winner of the 2011 Packing Room Prize)
• Nicholas Harding – Hugo at home (portrait of actor Hugo Weaving)
• Jeremy Kibel – Portrait of Robert Jacks AO
• Sonia Kretschmar – The heart of things (portrait of Cassandra Golds)
• Michael Lindeman – Portrait of Wilfred (portrait of actor Jason Gann)
• Song Ling – My name is Fartunate – self-portrait
• Fiona Lowry – Portrait of Tim Silver
• Tom Macbeth – Jessica (portrait of sailor Jessica Watson)
• Amanda Marburg – DA (portrait of writer David Astle)
• Angus McDonald – Dr Ann Lewis AO
• Alexander McKenzie – Richard Roxburgh
• Christopher McVinish – Portrait of Robyn Nevin
• Andrew Mezei – Professor Penny Sackett, astronomer and physicist
• Lewis Miller – Small self-portrait
• Rodney Pople – Artist and family (after Caravaggio) (portrait of artist, his wife Felicity Fenner and their two sons)
• Ben Quilty – Margaret Olley (Winner of the Archibald Prize)
• Craig Ruddy – Cathy Freeman
• Jenny Sages – My Jack (portrait of artist's husband, Jack Sages)
• Jiawei Shen – Self-portrait as Quong Tart's contemporary (after John Thomson), 2010
• Xenia Stefanescu – Woven in tapestry of life (self-portrait)
• Tim Storrier – Moon boy (self-portrait as a young man)
• Pam Tippett – Self-portrait (for a change)
• Barbara Tyson – The country's woman: Her Excellency, Ms Quentin Bryce AC, Governor-General of Australia
• Peter Wegner – Richard Morecroft
• Apple Xiu Yin – Hearing • Meditation (portrait of operatic soprano Cheryl Barker)