Victorian Vision

The 150th Anniversary celebrations present a unique opportunity to survey the cultural and social achievements of Victoria. The National Gallery of Victoria is proud to present Victorian Vision: 1834 onwards as its major contribution to the assessment of that achievement. Without being overly chauvinist, it is both possible and proper to claim that artists in Victoria, and more particularly in Melbourne, have played the leading role in the development of Australian art from colonial times to the present day.

This exhibition has a wider and profounder purpose than that, however. It aims to demonstrate just how much Victoria’s achievement, its sense of place and identity, has been given to us by our artists. Their changing vision of its landscape, cities and people, and the images they have formulated, have passed over into the general perception of how Victoria developed and what its achievements are. The close connection between the artists who have worked in Victoria and the society which surrounded and, for the most part, nourished them, has lent a peculiar strength to art in Victoria. The artist has played an almost functional role in interpreting and humanizing the environment in The National Gallery of Victoria is delighted and proud to be associated with the State Library of Victoria in presenting this which Victorians have lived.

Extract from Victorian Vision: 1834 onwards. Images and Records from the National Gallery of Victoria and the State Library of Victoria.