Hans HEYSEN
Germany 1877 – Australia 1968
Australia from 1884; Europe, England 1899-1903

Autumn morning 1928-30
watercolour on cardboard
56.2 (h) x 69.5 (w) cm
George Crouch Prize, 1931, Collection: Ballarat Fine Art Gallery

‘Keeping the trees solid in the morning light was the difficult thing, I think it was something I was striving for all my life really. The subtlety of the tree combined with the beauty; the bulk, the solidity of the tree, and the character of its growth. And the movement, that’s something we mustn’t forget … I had my special trees, and they altered their appearance—the time of the year and the angle of the sun made all the difference. You could paint a tree one day and get all its various facets. And the next day it would be a different tree.’

Hans Heysen, 1966–67