Sidney Nolan, Burke 1962 - Art Gallery of New South Wales
This piece is another of Nolan's 'Australiana' works, based around the 1860-61 expedition of Burke and Wills, who explored inland Australia in a north south direction before seven of the party died - the two leaders reportedly from starvation.
However, this piece is not particularly bleak, though perhaps a tad lost, showing Burke riding a camel in the outback. The colouring of the piece, from the white at the bottom, to the red centre, to the piercing blue sky is very striking. The hurried brush strokes on the camel and the man, seemingly naked, and the lack of detail on these two subjects - appearing almost to become part of the landscape themselves - is also very worthy of note.
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