Truth and Passion in von Guérard

Varcoe-Cocks elaborates on this point: “He really felt that there were many facets to an artwork. It could be seen as a beautiful object, it could be hung in a domestic space, or increasingly he hoped that it could be hung in public institutions, and they could inform the public about nature. So if you wanted to study nature or geology, but you had no access to remote mountains, you could walk into an art gallery, and scientists could discuss it. His paintings were actually used that way—for scientific discussions.”

But reducing his work to this kind of educational endeavor—no matter how altruistic—equates to discrediting it.

Power and Beauty

What remains hard to express in words is the power and beauty of von Guérard’s artwork, because he chose to use every ounce of his being to express his love of the natural world, leaving out no small detail, through each minute brush stroke made by his own hand—and all this with the aim of having a truthful, unadulterated depiction of nature as is.

Von Guérard wanted us to see the Grampian Mountains without the von Guérard, Varcoe-Cocks said.

“You see the commitment. He’s painting for himself. These paintings take many months, and he never gets reimbursed for the time involved, and the determination to depict the amazing light and this jewel-like effect is almost a form of obsession, almost verging on a religious process for himself,” Varcoe-Cocks said, adding, “And he doesn’t stop his entire life.”

As a modern-day visitor, as you leave behind the flood of high-definition imagery, LCD screens, urgent scrolling messages, and the automatic sliding doors of the National Gallery of Victoria close behind you, Eugene von Guérard will be waiting to pull you in again, and you might find it hard to leave.

And then you may ask yourself, “How come I’ve never been to the Grampians, or Cape Schanck, or Mount Kosciusko?”

For those who have visited the places depicted by von Guérard, the experience may be even more poignant.

“There’s a romantic memory that people have of a certain location, and to see them again in painted form is different to seeing it in a photograph or on a computer,” Varcoe-Cocks concluded. “There’s something about the physicality of an object which is almost overwhelming.”

Overwhelming is quite apt, but it’s just a word.

Eugene von Guérard: Nature Revealed, the National Gallery of Victoria, The Ian Potter Centre until August 7, 2011, admission fees apply. Visit ngv.vic.gov.au for further information.