She-oak and Sunlight: Australian Impressionism

While some museums are closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Apollo’s usual weekly pick of exhibitions will include shows at institutions that are currently open as well as digital projects providing virtual access to art and culture.

This survey at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne shines a (sunny) light on the breadth of Australia’s Impressionist movement, showing how artists such as Tom Roberts, Frederick McCubbin, Jane Sutherland and Arthur Streeton took to the outback to reimagine the national landscape en plein air. The display includes more than 50 works from the groundbreaking ‘9 by 5 Impression Exhibition’ held in Melbourne in 1889, and named after the cigar box lids on which many of the works were painted. Works by Monet, Sisley and Whistler from the NGV’s collection are also on view, highlighting the influence of European artists of the late 19th century on their Australian contemporaries. The exhibition runs from 2 April–22 August; find out more from the NGV’s website.

Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary here

The pioneer (1904), Frederick McCubbin. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Field naturalists (c. 1896), Jane Sutherland. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

‘The purple noon’s transparent might’ (1896), Arthur Streeton. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

A break away! (1891), Tom Roberts. Photo courtesy the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide