Brett Whiteley: Connections

Connections charts Brett Whiteley’s remarkable artistic journey through abstraction, figuration, landscape and still life. The exhibition includes important works from the early 1960s when Whiteley was living in London and spending time in Italy and the south of France. These drawings and paintings combine the earthy colours of Australia with the ambience of Italian painting, and the presence of the female torso was never far away, with his work soon evolving into the sensual bathroom series.

In the 1970s, the Whiteleys’ residence in North Sydney at Lavender Bay, with its spectacular views of Sydney Harbour, provided the perfect vehicle for compositions with expansive, Matisse-like spaces, be they harbour-scapes, sumptuous interiors or still lifes. The exhibition features iconic pieces from this period loaned from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, including The Balcony 2, 1975, and the Archibald Prize winning Self Portrait in the Studio of 1976.

Connections highlights the ways in which Whiteley’s uniquely Australian art captures the intellectual and physical journeys that characterised his generation. His uninhibited style celebrated his muse, his friends, artists he admired as well as villains he encountered; leading him to become one of Australia’s best known and admired artists.

Brett Whiteley: Connections is indemnified by the Victorian Government through Arts Victoria.