Margaret Olley: A Generous Life

Overview

One of the country's major artistic figures until her passing in 2011, Margaret Olley is an Australian greatly worth celebrating. Educated in Brisbane, and spending a significant part of her life here afterwards, she's also somewhat of a local icon. But Olley's impact extends beyond the vivid canvases that she's best known for. Over her nearly 90-year existence, she was also a mentor to others, a muse to many, and a devoted collector and donor of art herself.

While Margaret Olley: A Generous Life showcases Olley's work, it also highlights her broad influence. Here, across more than 100 paintings and drawings, visitors to the Gallery of Modern Art can see her own famous pieces, pictures of her by other artists, and even pieces that she bought and gave to public institutions. On display until Sunday, October 13, the exhibition marks her life and legacy — and, to emphasise the latter, runs alongside GOMA's simultaneous Quilty exhibition (which focuses on her good friend Ben Quilty) from Saturday, June 29.

Free to attend, A Generous Life steps through everything that made Olley's career what it was, so expect plenty of portraits, still life works and paintings of interiors. Expect to rove your eyes of art by European greats such as Pierre Bonnard, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Giorgio Morandi, Pablo Picasso and Édouard Vuillard, too — they're just some of her important purchases.

Image: Margaret Olley. Australia, b.1923. Pomegranates in a basket. 1967. Oil on board / 76 × 101cm. Private collection.