Samuel Rush Condon Self-portrait, Paris

This self-portrait was made in Paris in 2018, while Samuel Condon was travelling in Europe, and is part of a diptych with a portrait of his partner created for their lounge room. This year, Condon was again in Paris to further his study of painting.

‘I had always dreamed of going to Paris. As a small child, my favourite picture book told the story of a mouse who was a painter in Paris, and whatever he painted on the canvas would start to vanish from the world in front of him,’ says Condon.

‘Painting the Notre-Dame burning down in front of me was the closest I’ve ever gotten to that narrative.’

Born in Geelong, Victoria in 1985, Condon has a Master of Fine Arts from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) and Bachelor of Fine Arts (Drawing) from the Victorian College of the Arts. He was a finalist in the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship in 2013, 2012 and 2011, the Salon des Refusés in 2018 and 2016, and the Archibald Prize in 2015 and 2014.