Central Australia
1949
- Artist/s name
- Sidney NOLAN
- Medium
- oil and enamel paint on composition board
- Measurements
- 92.1 x 121.9 cm
- Accession Number
- 2241-4
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1950
© National Gallery of Victoria - Gallery Location
- Not on display
Central Australia 1949 is one of a series of landscapes that follow an intense period of travel by Sidney Nolan across Australia. This aerial view of the central desert, which demonstrates the influence of photography, depicts the long ridges of the Macdonnell Ranges painted in dull red and brown in contrast to the light blue sky. While the painting has a documentary-like quality, the apparent endlessness and the monotony develop into a dreamlike world where it appears that no human could exist.
Using red ochre oil and synthetic polymer paint on composition board, Nolan employed a dry brush technique and finger painting. He swept the paint over a white ground, the broken parts revealing some of the underpainting. This gives the mountain range a feeling of changing light and reveals the geography of the landscape, against which Nolan contrasts the opaque pink central Australian sky.
