Collection: John Olsen

B. 1928.

John Olsen stands among Australia's greatest artists. Although he is often described as an abstract artist, he refutes classification and instead, describes his practice as “an exploration of the totality of landscape”. Importantly, this exploration is personal. Inflected by his experiences living and travelling across Australia and abroad, Olsen unites the subjective and empirical, seeing all forms of life as interconnected.

Olsen's work is represented in all Australian state gallery collections and several international public collections. In 2017, the National Gallery of Victoria held a major retrospective of his work titled 'The You Beaut Country' and in 2005, he won the Archibald Prize. 

For a more in-depth biography of the artist, click here.