Elder Wing of Australian Art: Plain English Tour
Work 8 of 15

Tom Roberts was a member of a group of painters in the 1880's and 1890's.

The group was known as the ‘Heidelberg school’.

They weren’t a real school – that was just their name.

Today they are called the Australian Impressionists.

Impressionists are artists who paint the mood or feeling of a scene.

Tom and the other artists from the group sketched and painted outside.

They painted Australia’s landscapes,

pictures of land and nature.

Their paintings showed Australia with lots of sunlight and open space.

A break away! is a popular painting in the Art Gallery.

This painting is a great piece of work.

It has a lot of light and movement.

It shows the Australian sun is very strong and hot.

The ground is brown and yellow because it is very dry.

Tom painted this picture in 1891 in southern New South Wales.

When Tom painted this picture, there was a big drought,

a long time with no rain.

The sheep are thirsty.

They are running to the water.

The sheep make lots of dust.

The stockman,

someone who looks after the sheep,

is trying to stop them running into the water.

He is worried they will get hurt.

The stockman is a strong person who can do hard things.

The painting helped people to feel proud of Australia.