MASTERPIECE: Brett Whiteley Yellow 1975

MASTERPIECE: Brett Whiteley Yellow  1975

Smith & Singer were honoured to present Brett Whiteley’s exceptional masterpiece Yellow 1975 for private auction on Tuesday 10 October 2023.

Achieving $3,250,000, the fourth highest price ever paid for a Whiteley at auction, we were particularly delighted to be entrusted with the sale of Yellow, a masterpiece in Brett Whiteley’s oeuvre and a key composition within the history and development of landscape painting in Australia.

Included in Brett Whiteley’s solo exhibition at Bonython Art Gallery, Sydney, in 1975, the work immediately received rapturous reviews:

‘The River is the third theme he explores and from this comes perhaps the most beautiful painting in the show.  Titled Yellow, it is the image of a curving white river splitting the space of a yellow background punctuated by tall blue cypress trees.  In the foreground a pond plays host to a white-necked crane and a timid brown rabbit.  The painting is one of Whiteley’s most lyric and poetic works to date.’ (Sandra McGrath, ‘Whiteley’s Homage to Matisse’, The Australian, Sydney, 25 October 1975, p. 26)

Yellow was acquired by the vendors from its initial exhibition in 1975 and remained hidden from public view for almost half a century.  Reproduced here for the first time in colour and in its full glory, the re-emergence of Yellow is a cause for celebration.

Geoffrey Smith Chairman Australian & International Art  Melbourne  |  Sydney  T: +61 (0)3 9508 9900  T: +61 (0)2 9302 2402  E: Geoffrey Smith Gary Singer Chief Executive Officer Australian & International Art  Melbourne  |  Sydney  T: +61 (0)3 9508 9900  T: +61 (0)2 9302 2402  E: Gary Singer