Sidney Nolan was born in Melbourne, Australia and painted full-time from 1938. Early works revealed his awareness of European avant-garde art of the 1930s. At his first solo exhibition in Melbourne in 1940, a viewer was so enraged by Nolan’s ‘modernist spirit’ that he threw a pot of paint over a work. In 1942, while serving in the Army, Nolan began painting landscapes. In 1946 he began the first of his depictions of the outlaw, Ned Kelly, a series of works that made his name. Nolan settled in London in 1951, yet he did more than any other Australian artist to convey the immensity and beauty of the Outback. In 1954 he exhibited at the Venice Biennale and during the 1960s exhibited his work in major shows in London, New York and Australia.
