Brett Whiteley AO (1939-1992), artist, displayed a brilliant talent for drawing as a Sydney schoolboy. After studying very casually at art schools he travelled to Europe on a scholarship. In London he excited art dealers and fell under the influence of painters such as Francis Bacon, of whom he later made a series of portraits. He won the international prize at the second Paris Biennale for Young Artists in 1961, and married his muse, Wendy Julius, the following year. Through the 1960s he exhibited around the world as well as in Australia before the family returned to live in Lavender Bay. He began the 1970s with gentle pictures of birds, moving on to massive portraits of the poets Verlaine and Rimbaud before taking two years to paint the 18-panel Alchemy (1972-3). He then turned to series of paintings of waves, interiors, the harbour, and coastal landscapes. The glamorous Whiteleys' marriage was fiery, and their separation added to the artist's problems with substances and self-doubt. He died, apparently by accident, in a motel in Thirroul, NSW.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
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