Artist

Heysen was the fourth of the eight children of artist Hans Heysen and his wife Selma. From 1926 Heysen studied at the School of Fine Arts in North Adelaide. She also had her own studio - a converted shed on her parents' property at Hahndorf, 'The Cedars'. From 1930 Heysen began exhibiting her work and in 1933 her first solo exhibition was held in Adelaide at the Royal South Australian Society of Arts Galleries.

In 1934 the Heysen family travelled to Europe and she remained in London to study at the Central School of Art. During the next few years, Heysen continued travelling in Europe visiting the great galleries and studying the works of the masters. In 1935 in Paris Heysen met the artist Lucien Pissarro, son of the Impressionist Camille Pissarro, who influenced her by suggesting she change her palate by giving up earth colours and not mixing colours so much. She returned to Adelaide in October 1937 but soon afterwards decided to move to Sydney.

In 1938 Heysen entered two works in the Archibald Prize for portraiture. Her painting of Madame Elink Schuurman won; Heysen was the first woman to be awarded the Archibald. In 1943 Heysen was the first Australian woman to be appointed as an official war artist. Her instructions were to depict the contribution of women to the war effort, including those on active service in New Guinea and the army medical units at Sydney Hospital. After her war service Heysen lived in England again for some time, then returned to Sydney.

Throughout the 1950s and '60s, Heysen and her husband Robert Black travelled extensively and she was particularly inspired to draw and paint on their visits to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Although not prolific in her work, Heysen continued to exhibit in both solo and group exhibitions. In the 1980s several retrospective exhibitions were held. Heysen was granted the Visual Arts Emeritus Award and Medal by the Australia Council in 1993 and made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1998.