Collection Online

Cahill Expressway
(1962)

Medium
oil on plywood

Measurements
81.9 × 111.3 cm

Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1963
© National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Gallery location
Not on display

 

About this work

Although spending much of his career in Italy, Jeffrey Smart was one of Australia’s most distinguished artists. Throughout his painting oeuvre he remained fascinated by the urban landscape, focusing on prosaic corners of the city and the sleek geometry hidden behind everyday detritus. Completed four years before Smart’s eponymous painting, Sydney’s Cahill Expressway was the first freeway to be constructed in Australia. Instead of a typically busy thoroughfare, Smart’s reveals the site almost entirely devoid of figures. A bald, suited man is the only presence, drawing attention to the artist’s highly composed pictorial structure.

Artwork Details

Place/s of Execution
Sydney, New South Wales

Accession Number
1306-5

Department
Australian Painting

This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Vizard Foundation