Catani Gardens from Nolan’s St Kilda series was produced during the early–mid 1940s. The painting was created by Nolan only weeks after Under the pier and in it he depicts eight couples seeking romance and serenity in this garden by the sea. Catani Gardens conveys a naïve, almost child-like quality, accentuated by the abstracted figures and the loose, swirling brushstrokes which are reminiscent of Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry night. Nolan was a prolific painter and, working rapidly, he consciously sought to evoke a fresh, unconstrained, child-like simplicity in his work. Although Nolan’s work does not neatly conform to any particular artistic style or tradition, he was most interested in the ideas and techniques of primitivism and Surrealism and he was particularly influenced by the French nineteenth century primitif painter, Henri Rousseau and by the paintings of Danila Vassilieff, a Russian-born émigré artist who played an important role in the development of figurative expressionism in Australian art.

FOUNDATION COLLECTION

The Foundation Collection comprises 24 paintings which are the first of several donations made by the artist, Sir Sidney Nolan to the Australian Government from the mid-1970s.

Sidney Nolan (1917-1992) is one of Australia’s most widely acclaimed artists. He is best known for his iconic Kelly paintings which are based on the legendary story of Ned Kelly, Australia’s most renowned bushranger. The Foundation Collection comprises 15 paintings from the artist’s first Kelly series produced during the mid-1940s. It also encompasses paintings from the St Kilda and Burke and Wills series, and inspired by Nolan’s travels around Central Australia. Each of the paintings in this collection reflects the artist’s enduring interest in Australia’s landscape, history, and identity."