The Australian Impressionists

A Break Away! 1890 Oil Tom Roberts

Throughout the 1880s and ‘90s, a movement of art, influenced by the international impressionism trend, developed in Australia. Up to that time, depictions of Australia had been primarily rendered in a distinctly English pastoral style, creating a false impression that Australia resembled England. The artists in the new movement did appropriate the European plein air painting techniques and everyday subject matter of the French Impressionists, but the paintings they produced were unique in portraying the distinctive landscape and brilliant light of Australia as it actually was.

“For many decades, Australia was seen by many in terms of what it wasn’t. It wasn’t a soft and gentle land; the trees and plants weren’t the same; and it wasn’t a landscape that had been farmed and tamed for centuries. To the eyes of many new immigrants, Australia was lacking in that it did not have the attributes of the countries they had left…