{{Short description|Australian artist (1877–1968)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Use Australian English|date=June 2015}} {{Infobox artist | name = Hans Heysen | image = Hans Heysen by Harold Cazneaux.jpg | caption = Hans Heysen by [[Harold Cazneaux]] ca. 1935 | birth_name = Wilhelm Ernst Hans Franz Heysen | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1877|10|8}} | birth_place =[[Hamburg]], Germany | death_date = {{death date and age |1968|07|02 |1877|10|08 |df=yes}} | death_place = [[Mount Barker, South Australia]] | movement = Adelaide Easel Club | field = Painting | patrons = H. H. Wigg, W. L. Davidson, F. A. Joyner, Charles Henry de Rose}} [[File:Hans Heysen (Hannaford).jpg|thumb|Heysen as a young man<br>statue in Hahndorf by [[Robert Hannaford]]]] [[File:Heysen Droving.jpg|thumb|''[[Droving into the Light]]'', 1914–21, [[Art Gallery of Western Australia|State Art Collection, Art Gallery of Western Australia]]]]
'''Sir Hans Heysen''' {{post-nominals|country=UK|OBE}} (8 October 1877{{spaced ndash}}2 July 1968) was an Australian artist.
One of Australia's best known landscape painters,<ref name="atoa">{{cite book |last1=Splatt |first1=William |last2=Burton |first2=Barbara |date=1977 |title=A Treasury of Australian Landscape Painting |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1417435/Details |publisher=Rigby |page=45 |isbn=9780859020138 |access-date=31 October 2021 |archive-date=31 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211031095558/https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1417435/Details |url-status=dead }}</ref> Heysen became a household name during his lifetime for his watercolours and oil paintings of the [[Australian bush]], in particular men and animals toiling among monumental [[Eucalypt|gum trees]] against a background of atmospheric light.<ref name=Eagle>{{cite book|last=Eagle, Jones|first=Mary, John|title=A Story of Australian Painting|year=1994|publisher=MacMillan|location=Australia|isbn=0-7329-0778-0|pages=112}}</ref> He also won acclaim for his groundbreaking depictions of arid landscapes in the [[Flinders Ranges]]. He won the [[Wynne Prize]] for landscape painting a record nine times.
==Biography== '''Wilhelm Ernst Hans Franz Heysen''' was born in [[Hamburg]], Germany. He migrated to [[Adelaide]] in [[South Australia]] with his family in 1884 at the age of 7. As a young boy Heysen showed an early interest in art. At 14 he left school to work with a hardware merchant, later taking night classes at the Academy of Arts in Victoria Buildings, Victoria Square, under [[James Ashton (artist)|James Ashton]]. He joined the [[Adelaide Easel Club]] in 1897 and was immediately recognised as a rising talent.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article166956191 |title=Fair and Unfair |newspaper=[[Quiz and The Lantern]] |location=Adelaide |date=18 November 1897 |access-date=22 January 2015 |page=10 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
At age 20 he was sponsored by a group of wealthy Adelaide art enthusiasts [[E. S. Wigg]], H. H. Wigg and brothers-in-law W. L. Davidson, F. A. Joyner, and miner Charles Henry de Rose, to study art for four years in France.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58514238 |title=Hans of Hahndorf |newspaper=[[The Mail (Adelaide)|The Mail]] |location=Adelaide |date=3 May 1913 |access-date=15 November 2014 |page=8 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
By 1912 Hans Heysen had earned enough from his art to purchase a property called "The Cedars" near [[Hahndorf, South Australia|Hahndorf]] in the [[Adelaide Hills]],{{efn|Co-ordinates: {{coord |-35.0127 |138.8057}}}} which was his home until his death in 1968 aged 90. "The Cedars", named for its massive [[Himalayan cedar]]s, has changed little since the 1920s. It remains the property of the Heysen family, but most areas, including Hans's and Nora's studios, are open to the public 10:00 to 16:30 Tuesday to Sunday, and holiday Mondays, except Christmas Day; guided tours 11:00 and 14:00.<ref name=Cedars>{{cite book|title=The Cedars |publisher=Hans Heysen Foundation |date=October 2023}}</ref>
==Family== Heysen married Selma "Sallie" Bartels (1878–1962) on 15 December 1904. Her father was [[Adolph H. F. Bartels]], a former [[List of mayors and lord mayors of Adelaide|Mayor of Adelaide]]. Their children were Josephine, Freya, Lilian, Nora, David, Deirdre, Michael, and Stefan.<ref name=Cedars/> Daughter [[Nora Heysen]] also became a successful artist.{{cn|date=November 2025}} Freya, as Freya Booth (1908–1978), was a connoisseur and patron of the arts.{{cn|date=November 2025}}
== Wynne Prize == Heysen won the [[Wynne Prize]] nine times, for the following works: *1904 – ''Mystic Morn'' *1909 – ''Summer'' (watercolour) *1911 – ''Hauling Timber'' *1920 – ''Toilers'' (watercolour) *1922 – ''The Quarry'' (watercolour) *1924 – ''Afternoon in Autumn'' (watercolour) *1926 – ''Farmyard, Frosty Morning'' *1931 – ''Red Gums of the Far North'' (watercolour) *1932 – ''Brachina Gorge''
==Recognition== * In 1937 Heysen became an invited foundation member of, and exhibited, with [[Robert Menzies]]' anti-modernist organisation, the [[Australian Academy of Art]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-323428163 |title=Australian Academy of Art First Exhibition, April 8th-29th, Sydney : Catalogue |publisher=Australian Academy of Art |year=1938 |edition=1st |location=Sydney |language=en |access-date=2022-11-02}}</ref> * In 1945, he was appointed an Officer of the [[Order of the British Empire]] for service as trustee of the Hobart National Gallery<ref>[https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1107160 It's an Honour: OBE]</ref> * In 1959, he was made a [[Knight Bachelor]] for service to art<ref>[https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1083381 It's an Honour: Knight Bachelor]</ref> * The [[Heysen Trail]] and [[Heysen Tunnels]] were named after Heysen * The [[Electoral district of Heysen]] in the [[Parliament of South Australia]] is named after Heysen
==See also== {{Portal|Australia|Art|Biography}} *[[Australian art]]
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |last1=Cameron-Smith |first1=Barbara |title=Hans Heysen Was Here |date=2025 |publisher=[[Wakefield Press (Australia)|Wakefield Press]] |location=Mile End, SA |isbn=9781923388192}} {{refend}}
== External links == {{Commons category}} * [https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/heysen-sir-hans-6657 article] at the ''[[Australian Dictionary of Biography]]'' *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070112161800/http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/collection/australian/painting/h/heysen_h/education_kit.html education kit] at the [[National Gallery of Victoria]] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110707205721/http://www.balgal.com/?id=heysenhans The three gums] – [[Ballarat Fine Art Gallery]] * [https://www.travel-news-photos-stories.com/2025/03/the-cedars-in-hahndorf-ancestral-home.html Landscape and Legend] Editorial feature on Heysen and the Hahndorf homestead.
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heysen, Hans}} [[Category:1877 births]] [[Category:1968 deaths]] [[Category:German emigrants to Australia]] [[Category:Artists from Adelaide]] [[Category:Australian Knights Bachelor]] [[Category:Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Category:Wynne Prize winners]] [[Category:20th-century Australian painters]] [[Category:20th-century Australian male artists]] [[Category:Australian male painters]]