Portrait of Heath Ledger wins Australian art award

SYDNEY, Australia — A portrait of Hollywood star Heath Ledger painted weeks before his death has won an Australian art award.

The painting features a bare-chested Ledger staring from the canvas as two images of the actor whisper into his ears.

(enlarge photo) In this Monday, Nov. 6, 2006 file picture, actor Heath Ledger arrives to the premiere of his new film 'Candy' in New York. A portrait of Hollywood star Heath Ledger painted weeks before his death has won an Australian art award. On Thursday may 8, 2008 it was awarded a secondary prize by the Art Gallery of New South Wales in its annual national portrait competition. (AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh,File)

On Thursday, it was awarded a secondary prize by the Art Gallery of New South Wales in its annual national portrait competition. Sydney artist Del Kathryn Barton won first prize with her self-portrait.

"Heath" by Vincent Fantauzzo was the popular choice among the 32,000 who saw the exhibition.

Ledger died of an accidental prescription drug overdose in January. He was 28.

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