{"id":604733,"date":"2026-07-26T08:32:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T08:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/604733\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T08:32:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T08:32:51","slug":"artists-spirit-returns-as-whiteley-studio-reopens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/604733\/","title":{"rendered":"Artist’s spirit returns as Whiteley studio reopens"},"content":{"rendered":"

The final home and studio of one of Australia’s best-loved artists is reopening to the public after a two-year closure for building works.<\/p>\n

Brett Whiteley’s studio in the Sydney suburb of Surry Hills opens again on Saturday, with an exhibition of his work from the 1970s including the 16-metre wide epic painting Alchemy.<\/p>\n

The Sydney-born artist is renowned for his sensuous use of line and colour, lyrical nudes, and ever-present appreciation of the city’s harbour.<\/p>\n

Whiteley died of a methadone overdose in 1992 and his works remain sought after by collectors, with more than 40 of his paintings selling for more than $1 million at auction.<\/p>\n

\"BrettBrett Whiteley’s valuable paintings are now protected in a temperature-controlled environment. (Bianca De Marchi\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

The artist bought the three-storey former T-shirt warehouse in 1985, transforming it into a gallery and work space.<\/p>\n

And just like Australia’s national gallery in Canberra in recent years, its roof had seen better days.<\/p>\n

“The roof leaks were a hell of a worry, it was getting to be a public building with buckets to catch the water,” said the artist’s former wife Wendy Whiteley.<\/p>\n

The oldest part of the building dated back to the 1890s, while the front section was a flimsy build from the 1920s, according to architect Peter Tonkin.<\/p>\n

He designed a curvy replacement roof, an architectural manifestation of the generous lines the artist was renowned for.<\/p>\n

\"WendyThe studio’s roof had seen better days and Wendy Whiteley said leaks were “a hell of a worry”. (Bianca De Marchi\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

The project became a chance for other improvements, such as a soundproof plant room to keep Whiteley’s valuable paintings in a temperature-controlled environment.<\/p>\n

A small research library was added, as well as accessible lifts and toilets.<\/p>\n

“There was a lot more building work than I think anyone imagined at the outset,” said Mr Tonkin, from Sydney architects Tonkin Zulaikha Greer.<\/p>\n

Studio museums are relatively rare in Australia, with the building managed by the Art Gallery of New South Wales since 1995.<\/p>\n

\"artPaintbrushes were painstakingly recreated in the same way Brett Whiteley left them decades ago. (Bianca De Marchi\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

The project came with particular challenges: the artist’s paintbrushes, paints and spraycans, and personal items (even including a bird specimen) had to to be put back as Whiteley left them decades ago.<\/p>\n

There were dozens of photos and clippings on the walls, as well as artistic scribblings – notes on life, art, and one note in pencil that simply read “God”.<\/p>\n

The gallery’s conservators treated all these as artworks in themselves, carefully protecting them during the building works so the public would never know the difference, said Tonkin.<\/p>\n

\"BrettHandwritten messages by artist Brett Whiteley have been carefully preserved. (Bianca De Marchi\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

“Even the paint splatters on the floor in Brett’s studio were carefully overlaid with waterproof membranes, so you wouldn’t realise that anything’s happened,” he said.<\/p>\n

Wendy Whiteley was overwhelmed when she first saw the finished space.<\/p>\n

“It’s just absolutely beautiful, now the paintings and the sculptures are back Brett’s spirit has returned, he’s come home again,” she said.<\/p>\n

The opening weekend of Brett Whiteley: Coming Home will feature talks and a program of events, with 80 artworks on show from the gallery and studio collection.<\/p>\n

“It’s valuable for the public to see how Brett Whiteley worked, the paint brushes on the box of paints and a bit of mess, and the old wicker chair that no-one but the artist was allowed to sit in,” said Tonkin.<\/p>\n

License this article<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The final home and studio of one of Australia’s best-loved artists is reopening to the public after a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[267],"tags":[62915,62916,365,362,363,364,1128,62917,9,1063,366,18,117,1831,19,17,5,1828,1827,1829,1830,66],"class_list":["post-604733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-aap","tag-aapnews","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-australia","tag-australian-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-daily-news","tag-design","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-global-news","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-news-app","tag-news-headlines","tag-news-today","tag-today-news","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116985359241097746","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}