Landscape 1979

Here's a landscape that Sidney Nolan painted with oils, or maybe gouache, smudged across the surface. I can imagine Nolan out there in the bush, squinting into the sun, working quickly, trying to capture the light and the feeling of this place. The paint is applied in thin layers, almost translucent in places, allowing the colors to blend and bleed into one another. I really love how the reddish earth meets the blue-green sky, giving the whole thing a slightly ominous feel. This big dark figure looms in the foreground – is it Ned Kelly? I wonder what Nolan was thinking about when he made this, about the history and mythology of Australia, about the land itself. This painting makes me think about other artists who've tried to capture the essence of a place, like Emily Carr in Canada, or even Van Gogh, with his swirling landscapes. Artists are always talking to each other across time, you know, riffing on each other’s ideas and approaches. It is as if the act of painting is a conversation, a way of working through ideas, a way of seeing.