Sidney Nolan National Gallery of Victoria

African landscape, Rimbaud at Harar, Baboon, and Head of Rimbaud take us back to the awakening of Nolan’s inner eye during his youth, and forward to his last landscapes.

The Army slouch hat and the blue eyes give the game away: this portrait of Ern Malley is Nolan confronting his demons – or perhaps his critics.

In Kelly and armour we finally see Kelly freed from his armour. Here, curator Barry Pearce finds some parallels between Nolan’s preoccupation with Ned Kelly and the poet Arthur Rimbaud.

Nolan painted some 75 versions of Leda and the Swan. Curator Barry Pearce offers some insights into the artist’s motivations for painting the series.

Sidney Nolan recounts the experiences that led him to create this series while Curator Barry Pearce argues why Riverbend may be seen as Nolan’s greatest masterpiece.

Queensland was in the grip of a horrendous drought. Even so, Nolan drew inspiration from the trip, as Curator Barry Pearce recounts.