Nostalgia for the sky

In 1942, Sidney Nolan was conscripted into the army. For two years he was stationed at Dimboola on the Wimmera River in western Victoria. Ironically, his time here allowed for a period of intense artistic experimentation and existential investigation. Painting the vast and featureless space of the Wimmera flatlands revolutionised his landscapes, but he also turned his attention to the expressive possibilities of the figure.

Studying the writings of Sigmund Freud and Melbourne psychiatrist Reg Ellery during this time inspired a series of surrealist-like figures that channel a sense of wartime menace. These strange characters from Nolan’s Dimboola sketchbook – an upward gazing, feline-like devilish figure and local farmer whose features appear inverted by old age – reveal the psychological portraits Nolan created from people he encountered.