Hans Heysen was born on 8 October 1877 in Hamburg, Germany. In 1884, at the age of six, he emigrated with his family to Adelaide, South Australia. He left school at 14 and worked for two years in a sawmill cum hardware business before joining his father’s produce business selling butter and eggs until 1898. While working he studied under James Ashton at his Norwood Art School from mid-1893 to late 1894, and again from early 1896 to late 1897.

From mid 1893, he spent each Sunday sketching outdoors in the Adelaide Hills with his friend Reg Comley. In 1898-99 he attended the South Australian School of Design under H.P Gill . In October 1899 Heysen travelled to Europe where he stayed for almost four years studying at the Academie Julian, the Academie Colarossi and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. He visited Holland, Scotland, England, and Italy. In January 1904, following his return to South Australia, Heysen opened a studio and art school in Adelaide. He spent three months painting in New Zealand in 1907.

In 1908 Heysen settled in Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills where he lived for the rest of his life. He made the first of several visits to the Flinders Ranges in 1926. In 1934 he travelled again to Europe. For twenty-eight years from 1940-68 he was a member of the Board of the Art Gallery of South Australia. For many years he depicted rural labour in the enclosed landscape in his beloved Adelaide Hills and the unpeopled spaces of the Flinders Ranges. He died from a stroke on 2 July 1968 at Mt Barker, South Australia.

Writers:

Gray, Dr Anne Note: Head of Australian Art, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT

Date written:

2006

Last updated:

2011