Sidney Nolan, Hare in Trap 1946 - Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
This is a painting which is leant quite a bit of meaning according to the exhibition notes. After the war, Nolan spent much of his time at Heide, the home of his patrons, John and Sunday Reed, the latter with whom he had an affair. She rejected his suggestion to leave her husband though, and it appears Nolan felt more and more trapped in Melbourne.
Thus this painting, a remembrance of travelling with his father and seeing a rabbit in such a trap, is a fair approximation of how Nolan was feeling at the time. The fear and terror of the animal, indicated by the piercing blue eye [which, unfortunately, may not be visible to full effect in the picture above], the blood and fur splattered in the foreground of the picture, and the ever present sunburnt countryside, all put together, makes this work quite the bleak appraisal.
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