Fire's on

{{short description|Painting by Arthur Streeton}} {{Use Australian English|date=June 2020}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}} {{Infobox artwork | image_file = Arthur Streeton - Fire's on - Google Art Project.jpg | title =Fire's on | artist = Arthur Streeton | year = 1891 | medium = Oil on canvas | height_metric=183.8 | width_metric=122.5 | height_imperial= | width_imperial= | metric_unit=cm | imperial_unit=in | city = Sydney | museum = Art Gallery of New South Wales }} '''''Fire's on''''' is an 1891 oil on canvas landscape painting by Australian artist Arthur Streeton. The painting depicts the construction of the Glenbrook Tunnel (also known as the Lapstone Tunnel) through the Blue Mountains. Unusually for a landscape, the painting is upright with a high horizon line.<ref name="AGNSW">{{cite web |title=Fire's on |url=https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/832/ |website=Art Gallery of New South Wales |accessdate=29 April 2019}}</ref> The painting's title refers to the warning call before the blast of the explosive.<ref name="AGNSW" />

The painting has been described as Streeton's "greatest work".<ref name="Thomas">{{cite web |last1=Thomas |first1=Daniel |title=In the fiery furnace: Streeton's Fire's On, 1891 |url=https://www.artlink.com.au/articles/4049/in-the-fiery-furnace-streetonE28099s-fireE28099s-on-1891/ |website=Artlink |accessdate=28 April 2019 |date=1 December 2013}}</ref> Like his contemporary Tom Roberts' work ''Shearing the Rams'' (1890), ''Fire's on'' is an expression of Australian nationalism with its depiction of strong masculine labour building the nation's wealth. In ''Fire's on'', however, the labourers themselves are dwarfed by the "heat-baked Australian landscape".<ref name="Thomas" />

The painting was acquired by the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1893 and remains part of its collection.<ref name="AGNSW"/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/832/ ''Fire's on''] at the Art Gallery of New South Wales *[https://player.fm/series/series-2186275/arthur-streeton-fires-on-also-known-as-fires-on-lapstone-tunnel-1891 Audio commentary] - Fire's on. From Turner to Monet: the triumph of landscape, National Gallery of Australia

Category:Paintings by Arthur Streeton Category:1891 paintings Category:Landscape paintings Category:Collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales Category:Oil paintings on canvas