Image: Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
‘Nolan: Origins’, a major new exhibition exploring the creativity and poetic power of Australian artist Sidney Nolan, brings together more than 150 major works at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The exhibition runs from 3 October 2026 to 7 February 2027 at the gallery’s Naala Nura building.
The survey includes Nolan’s famous series of paintings on the bushranger Ned Kelly, made in 1946–47. It brings together works produced before Nolan relocated to the United Kingdom in 1953, during the years in which he forged a reputation as one of Australia’s most distinctive modernist artists.
‘Nolan: Origins’ examines Nolan’s engagement with the places he painted as he evolved his singular, enigmatic visual language: St Kilda, Wimmera, K’gari, also known as Fraser Island, Central Australia, and the landscapes associated with Ned Kelly’s story in north-eastern Victoria. The exhibition is a major survey journeying through the landscapes and stories that transformed Australian art.
It also examines how Nolan interrogated the idea of ‘Australia’, invoking a sense of place through myths, histories, people and creatures imbued with his own personal inner meanings.
From indelible visions of the outlaw Ned Kelly to epic portrayals of Central Australia, Nolan redefined perceptions of place and nation in Australia’s cultural imagination.
