The last painting by Jeffrey Smart has found a home in the National Gallery of Australia thanks in part to the estate of fellow artist Margaret Olley.
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Smart's final work Labyrinth was painted in 2011 when he was 90 and features a tiny portrait of Victorian-era author H.G. Wells lost in an endless, concrete maze.
A reported $500,000 was donated by the Margaret Olley estate to assist in the purchase of the painting, given special significance by the long-time friendship of Smart, who died in June 2013, and Olley, who died in 2011.
National Gallery of Australia curator Dr Deborah Hart said the institution had been hoping to get its hands on a Jeffrey Smart painting for some time and was delighted to have Labyrinth.
"I think it's a really important addition to our collection," she said. "We have quite a strong collection of Jeffrey Smart's work that really needed to balance the early works with examples of what he did later in his life.
"And of course to have the last painting is extra special."
Dr Hart said Labyrinth summed up many of Smart's interests over the years and gave a sense of "open-ended evocation, poetic sensibility".
She said she had once showed the renowned artist around Canberra when he came to the city a few years ago.
"I think he was a bit exhausted by all the media attention and he said, 'Oh, I think I'd like you to take me on a tour of the blossom trees in Canberra in spring'," she said. "I thought there was something very poetic in that."
Dr Hart said it was appropriate for the Margaret Olley estate to have assisted in the purchase of the painting, given the two Australian painters' long friendship.
"Margaret and Jeffrey were such close friends. They shared a really long friendship. They were both very committed painters and both enjoyed a sense of humour together. It's a really nice collection," she said.
Dr Hart said Labyrinth would go on display in the gallery very soon.
The painting combined many of Smart's long-term fascinations, including a love of geometry.
"It reveals a great depth of understanding about the medium of painting ... I don't think it's a young man's painting, I think it's something that really comes after years of experiences as an artist," she said.
"We are thrilled to be able to have it in the collection to represent such an important Australian artist with a really major work."
To own a limited edition copy of Labyrinth and other Jeffrey Smart paintings go to canberratimes.com.au/smart.
