Nolan: Origins is the first major exhibition dedicated to Sidney Nolan’s formative artistic years in Australia. Bringing together more than 150 works, the exhibition spans the period from the late 1930s to 1953, when Nolan departed for London. It traces the creative breakthroughs that would transform Australian art and establish Nolan as a defining figure of modernism.

From the beaches of Melbourne’s St Kilda to the Wimmera, K’gari (also known as Fraser Island), the inland regions of New South Wales and Queensland and the expanses of Central Australia, the exhibition follows Nolan’s travels across the continent and charts his creative evolution, revealing how the places he encountered fuelled a bold new vision of Australia. Together, these works showcase a remarkable period of artistic experimentation that continues to influence artists today.

In a landmark moment for Australian audiences, Nolan: Origins reunites the artist’s complete 27-painting Ned Kelly series in Sydney for the first time in more than 60 years. Rarely seen together, this celebrated painting cycle is presented as originally exhibited in 1948, in what was a defining moment in the development of modern Australian painting. The exhibition also brings together some of Nolan’s most iconic works alongside some that are less well known, including significant works from public collections and rarely exhibited private loans from across the country.

Nolan: Origins reveals the extraordinary breadth of Nolan’s creative vision as a young artist. While the Ned Kelly series remains one of his defining achievements, the exhibition shows how the themes that would come to shape his practice throughout his career, including landscape, myth, history and identity, first emerged during his years in Australia.

Art Gallery of New South Wales Director Maud Page said: ‘Few artists have had a greater impact on how Australians see themselves and the landscape than Sidney Nolan. The exhibition offers a rare opportunity to experience the ambition, imagination and innovation of an artist whose work continues to resonate nationally and internationally.’

Exhibition curator and Art Gallery of New South Wales Senior Curator of Australian Art Denise Mimmocchi said: ‘The works in Nolan: Origins are among the most inventive in Australian art and contributed to a transformative period in modern Australian culture. Bringing together these enigmatic works gives a new generation of audiences the opportunity to encounter Nolan at the moment he forged his groundbreaking visual language. He drew on Australia’s landscapes, histories and legends to create paintings that continue to challenge and feed our cultural imagination.’

Accompanying the exhibition is a major new publicationfeaturing fresh scholarship on Nolan’s early career and lasting influence on Australian art. It provides renewed perspectives on Nolan’s practice from leading curators, academics, artists and writers.

A dynamic season of public programs accompanying the exhibition will extend the experience beyond the gallery walls, with talks, tours, workshops, film screenings and music exploring his impact on Australian culture.

On opening day, join exhibition curator Denise Mimmocchi in a panel discussion with Heide Museum of Modern Art Artistic Director Lesley Harding and Head Curator Kendrah Morganas they explore Nolan’s singular creative achievements, personal entanglements, and the profound influence of Australian landscapes, histories and legends on his work.

Later on opening day, reimagine the Ned Kelly legend through a bold, contemporary lens at a special screening of the acclaimed drama True history of the Kelly Gang (2019) at Sydney Cinémathèque, followed by a Q&A with the award-winning director Justin Kurzel. Inspired by Peter Carey’s Booker Prize–winning novel and Nolan’s iconic paintings, the film screening will serve as the starting point for a conversation between Kurzel and the Art Gallery’s Senior Curator of Film Ruby Arrowsmith-Todd, exploring Nolan’s creative influences and the enduring legacy of bushranger mythology in Australian culture. Film screening requires a ticket.

Experience Nolan: Origins by night at a special Art After Hours on Wednesday 18 November with a curator-led exhibition tour at 6pm followed by a free live performance from celebrated Australian musician C.W. Stoneking at 7pm. With his spellbinding blend of blues, folk tales and larger-than-life characters, Stoneking creates vividly imagined worlds that echo Nolan’s enduring fascination with storytelling and the Australian imagination. Framed by an introduction to the exhibition, the evening offers a unique opportunity to discover unexpected connections between music and visual art, and between two singular Australian artists whose work is shaped by place, reinvention and creative independence. The curator-led tour requires an exhibition ticket.

Join a series of three spotlight tours exploring the threads that run through Nolan’s beginnings. Led by Art Gallery curators who contributed essays to the exhibition catalogue, these tours examine key themes in Nolan’s early work, including Luna Park in his boyhood suburb of St Kilda and Australia’s drought-ridden interior to the biblical and mythological worlds that fuelled his imagination. Each theme is explored through specific paintings in the exhibition. Held on Wednesday 11 and 25 November and 2 December. Free, with exhibition ticket.

A program of free drop-in workshops will invite visitors of all ages to explore the themes and motifs of Nolan’s work through hands-on creative activities, developed with artist Madeleine Kelly. On Sunday 4 October, visitors can create a collaged artwork inspired by the birds that appear throughout Nolan’s landscapes, customising a double-bird form with colour and texture before transforming it into a hanging artwork. The workshop will also be held during the spring school holidays. At Art After Hours on Wednesday 7 October, drop in and explore Nolan’s vivid St Kilda paintings through a relaxed oil pastel drawing workshop inspired by his bold use of colour, shape and perspective, with all materials provided.

Nolan: Origins is on display at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Naala Nura from 3 October 2026 to 7 February 2027. Tickets are now on sale, including discounted 2-for-1 tickets on Wednesday evenings for Art After Hours.