Exclusive to Gippsland Art Gallery, The Golden Hour explores the celebrated myths and personalities behind the formative period in Australia art that has in many ways come to define the way our nation sees itself. A land mark exhibition for the Gallery, The Golden Hour celebrates the classics, sparkling nostalgic memories, stories and Australiana themes of country, landscape and character.

The exhibition brings together major artworks from the celebrated ‘Heidelberg School’ period of Australian painting (c.1880–1900), including iconic works by Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton, Frederick McCubbin and Charles Conder, such as Roberts’ Shearing the Rams (1890) and twelve works from infamous ‘9x5 Impressionist Exhibition’ of 1889.

The Golden Hour also explores the influences and after effects of this revolutionary period by presenting key works from the two decades before (1860—1880) and the two decades after (1900—1920), offering a rare continuum of Australian landscape painting across six decades of transformation. The exhibition will chart the changes in fortunes through the boom years of the 1880s and the bust of the 1890s, and the ways in which art gauged national character and how we saw ourselves as a nation.

Significantly, The Golden Hour also connects this historical legacy to contemporary practice through works by Mary Tonkin and Michelle Hiscock, demonstrating the enduring influence of light, atmosphere, and lands cape in Australian art today.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a full suite of public programs including talks, workshops, daily guided tours and a symposium, along with tourism packages to help visitors make the most of their time in The Middle of Everywhere. Look out for further announcements closer to the time!

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