Brett Whiteley (1939-1992)

The subject of Sydney harbour has always attracted artists and Whiteley was no exception. His Lavender Bay paintings of the 1970s celebrate the beauty and 'optical ecstasy' of the harbour, and he continued to explore the theme for the rest of his life. As Whiteley stated 'Two-thirds of Braque's work is table tops, there's Morandi's bottles, Lloyd Rees hills ... my repeating theme - a subject I will always go back to until I die - Lavender Bay' (Brett Whiteley quoted in S. McGrath, Brett Whiteley, Sydney, 1979, p.219)