Arthur Streeton

Arthur Streeton was an Australian painter and a leading light of the Heidelberg School, the country's first major Impressionist movement. Born near Melbourne in 1867, he painted the Australian bush and coast in high-keyed blues and golds, capturing the harsh sunlight and heat-hazed distances of his homeland. Works with titles like Golden Summer helped Australians see beauty in their own dry, sunlit landscape.

He often worked outdoors alongside friends at artist camps around Melbourne and Sydney, painting quickly to catch the light. Later he traveled to Europe and served as an official war artist during the First World War. Streeton became one of Australia's most honored painters, and his shimmering landscapes remain central to how the nation pictures itself.