Hans Heysen: Landscape of pent-up demand drives bids

A lesser-known painting by Hans Heysen has sold for more than $400,000 above its reserve, signalling a resurgent interest in the artist.

Jim Elder at Hans Heysen’s studio in Hahndorf. Picture: Roy Van Der Vegt

A lesser-known painting by water colour master Sir Hans Heysen has sold for more than $400,000 above its reserve, signalling a resurgent interest in the artist who made Australia fall in love with the gum tree.

And now, another seven works by Sir Hans are set to hit the market after his painting A Summer’s Day sold at auction in Melbourne last month for $601,000, a new record for a ­Heysen.

Sir Hans (1877-1968) was German-born but emigrated to Adelaide in 1884 as a seven-year-old and became a keen bush walker in his youth, traversing areas such as the Flinders Ranges which inspired much of his work. He is one of the country’s most revered painters and his home and studio at The Cedars in the Adelaide Hills town of Hahndorf are preserved as a tourist attraction.

Sir Hans’ real-life reproductions of bush scenes had come to be regarded as a bit dated by some in the art world but his many champions say no painter has better captured the light, colour and majesty of the Australian scrub.

The previous record for a Heysen was $341,600 for his 1926 painting The Farmyard, Frosty Morning, at auction in Sydney last year from the collection of Sir Warwick and Lady Fairfax.

The spiralling prices his work is now commanding confirm the growing interest in Heysen and also suggest that high-end art is proving pandemic-proof with plenty of buyers keen to invest.

The nation’s leading Heysen dealer, Jim Elder of Elder Fine Art Auctions in North Adelaide, has been selling Heysens for 47 years and said he was stunned by the results achieved for A Summer’s Day, which Sir Hans painted in 1912.

“This is extraordinary in the middle of a pandemic,” Mr Elder told The Weekend Australian.

The painting was sold by Deutscher and Hackett in Melbourne with Mr Elder attributing the high price to “a pent-up ­demand among art collectors” during the lockdown and also a growing appreciation of Heysen’s work.

“This price … was wildly over the $200,000 bids the work was estimated to attract,” he said.

“The Heysens in this coming auction are classic examples of our greatest landscapist’s precious works and why he was and is the master.

“His works are part of a really exciting collection of Australian old, modern, and rare works in our hands just now.”