Mount Sonder, West MacDonnell Ranges, Central Australia 1945

Editor: Here we have Albert Namatjira's watercolour, "Mount Sonder, West MacDonnell Ranges, Central Australia" painted in 1945. It’s immediately striking how he captures the immensity and almost dreamlike quality of the landscape, and the mountains give such a striking profile! What really jumps out to you when you look at this piece? Curator: Oh, that's the million-dollar question, isn't it? Well, what strikes me first is that, in some ways, it resembles those picture postcards tourists snap up - almost...stereotypical, wouldn't you say? But the secret to his work resides in capturing a kind of 'spirit of place'. I would suggest you try to let yourself sink into the warm earthy hues juxtaposed with the spectral blues of the mountain range. You can practically feel the ancient heart of the land beating. Does that make sense, or am I just rambling again? Editor: No, it totally makes sense. There’s definitely that postcard quality to it, but there's something deeper that gives the landscape such a sense of dignity and scale. How much do you think his heritage as an Indigenous artist influenced his unique style and perspective? Curator: Hugely, though, in a complicated way, because he also learned Western-style landscape painting from Rex Battarbee. He's straddling two worlds, if you think about it – Country he knows intimately and this newfangled European technique of representing space. So, it’s about what happens when those two worlds collide…It can be pretty special to imagine the conversations with his ancestors, as he tried to adopt that style. Editor: That gives me so much more to think about. I came in seeing a beautiful, somewhat traditional landscape painting, but I’m leaving with a deeper appreciation for the story behind it. Curator: Exactly! See? Art is like onions... layers upon layers… of joy, and some inevitable tears along the way, naturally!