Artist

Heysen immigrated to South Australia with his family in 1883. Heysen's interest in art led him to undertake part-time study at the Norwood Art School with James Ashton and later at Ashton's Academy of Arts in Adelaide. In 1898 Heysen studied at the School of Design in Adelaide. The following year he was painting full-time and exhibiting with the South Australian Society of Arts and the Easel Club. Heysen developed a love for the Adelaide Hills and often painted scenes and landscapes of the area.

In 1899 four Adelaide businessmen saw Heysen's potential as an artist and gave him 400 pounds to travel and study in Europe. Heysen visited Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and France and studied in Paris at the Académie Julian, Calrossi's Academy and the Ecole des Beaux Arts. He returned to Adelaide in 1904 and established a studio and art school in Currie Street, Adelaide. In 1908 Heysen held a successful solo exhibition in Melbourne and afterwards gave up teaching. Heysen and his family moved to Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills, a town originally settled by some of the first German immigrants to South Australia. In 1912 the Heysens purchased 'The Cedars', a property near Hahndorf at which Heysen would build a studio and live and work until his death.

During the First World War Heysen's reputation suffered as, despite the fact he had been naturalised as an Australian in 1899 and irrespective of his love for the Australia landscape so obvious in his work, his loyalty to the British Empire was questioned because of his German birth. In 1915, Heysen resigned from the Australian Art Association and the South Australian Society of Arts when asked to declare his position on the war. In 1917 he chose for his work not to be included in an exhibition at the National Gallery of New South Wales after the trustees of the Gallery expected him to declare his sympathies.

In the 1920s Heysen's reputation as one of Australia's leading landscape painters grew. In 1926 and 1928 there were issues of the magazine Art in Australia dedicated to his work. Heysen travelled to Europe to view the works of the great European masters again and to purchase for the Art Gallery of South Australia in 1934. He was made a trustee of the Art Gallery of South Australia in 1940; a position he held until his death. Heysen was awarded an OBE in 1945 and knighted in 1959.

Heysen was an early conservationist, passionately protecting the Adelaide Hills landscape - particularly the eucalyptus trees which feature so prominently in his work. The Heysen Trail, a walking track which runs from the Flinders Ranges to Cape Jarvis, was named in his honour in 1969. A building at the University of South Australia's City West campus is named after Heysen.

1899-1903: Travelled in Europe; studied at the Académie Julian, Calrossi's Academy and the école des Beaux Arts in Paris

1904: Awarded Wynne Prize for the best landscape painting of Australian scenery; goes on the win this prize eight more times

1920 ands 1926: Issues of Art in Australia dedicated to Heysen's work published

November 1926: Visited the Flinders Ranges for the first time; the landscape is to inspire him over many years and is featured in much of his best-loved work

1931: Awarded the Crouch Prize for oils and sculpture by the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery

1935: Art Gallery of New South Wales held the first exhibition in a public gallery devoted to Heysen's work

1940-1968: Trustee of the Art Gallery of South Australia

1945: Made Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)

1959: Became a Knight Bachelor

1967: Hahndorf Academy Gallery held an exhibition of over 100 Heysen works, in honour of his 90th birthday. A room of the gallery is named 'The Heysen Gallery'.

Heysen family. Papers relating to the Heysen family, D 5730(Misc)

Hylton, Jane and John Neylon. Hans Heysen : into the light, Kent Town, S. Aust. : Wakefield Press, 2004

North, Ian (ed). Heysen, South Melbourne, Vic. : Macmillan ; [Adelaide] : Art Gallery of South Australia, 1979

Thiele, Colin. Heysen of Hahndorf, [Diamond Creek, Vic.] : David Heysen Productions, 2001

Australian Dictionary of Biography Online: Search for Hans Heysen

National Gallery of Victoria: Hans Heysen