Vale: William Robinson AO

Thu 28 Aug 2025

William Robinson (16 April 1936–26 August 2025) is one of the most celebrated Australian artists of his generation and brought a dynamic and unique approach to painting the landscape. Robinson was unconstrained by the ‘rules’ of realism and perspective in his evocative impressions of both domestic scenes and wilderness. Whether residing on a small farm at Birkdale, on the Gold Coast Hinterland, in the beachside town of Kingscliff, or in suburban Brisbane, Robinson painted his 'backyards' throughout his career. He approached each location with a relentless desire to more deeply comprehend its character and how the natural world can enrich the meaning in all our lives.

Born in Brisbane in 1936, Robinson grew up with a love of art and music. He trained as a primary school teacher before studying art and graduated from Brisbane’s Central Technical College (later Queensland University of Technology) in 1962. Robinson then began a long career as an art teacher, working in several tertiary institutions in south-east Queensland before resigning in 1989 to focus on painting.

Robinson came to national prominence after his inclusion in ‘Australian Perspecta’, at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, in 1983; and in the Sixth Biennale of Sydney, in 1986. In 2001, the Queensland Art Gallery held the major survey ‘William Robinson: A Retrospective’, which toured to the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, in 2002. The exhibition established his capacity to both explore nature as a powerful emotional force and convey the intense experience of travelling through the vast Australian landscape.

Robinson also painted moments of quiet joy, whimsy and humour that were inspired by the years between 1970 and 1984, which he spent surrounded by animals on his farm at Birkdale, with his wife, Shirley Robinson (1936–2022), who occasionally appeared in his paintings. An example is William and Shirley, flora and fauna 1985 (illustrated), which depicts the couple seated in a lush eucalypt and subtropical landscape, among grass trees, kangaroos and various species of birds. Painted after the Robinsons had moved from Birkdale to a property at Beechmont in the Gold Coast Hinterland, the picture reflects their life together in their new surroundings.

William and Shirley, flora and fauna 1985

In contrast to the Robinsons’ Birkdale farm, their Beechmont property was distinguished by challenging terrain and unpredictable weather. These qualities are apparent in the artist’s painting Rainforest mist in afternoon light 2002 (illustrated), in which he has captured the awe-inspiring scenery of nearby Springbrook National Park. He has depicted the landscape with an elusive horizon line, tangled and mysterious as it stretches away from the viewer. While clearly an Australian scene, Robinson’s painting echoes the landscapes of nineteenth-century Romantic painters such as Caspar David Friedrich and John Constable in its allusion to the 'sublime'. An archetypal work in Robinson’s oeuvre, the painting embodies the artist’s skill in synthesising art historical references with local subjects.

Robinson held Honorary Doctorates from the University of Southern Queensland, Griffith University, and QUT. In 2007, Robinson was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his outstanding achievement and service to the arts; and in 2009, the William Robinson Gallery was founded at QUT's Gardens Point campus in recognition and celebration of his work.

An original and imaginative artist, William Robinson’s singular perspective lives on in his iconic images of the country he knew and loved.

Rainforest and mist in afternoon light 2002

Delve deeper into the QAGOMA Collection

Four seasons (panel 1) 1987

Dark tide, Bogangar 1994

Fading light, Numinbah 2001

William and Shirley, flora and fauna 1985 and Rainforest and mist in afternoon light 2002 are on display in the Australian Art Collection (Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Galleries), Queensland Art Gallery.

Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)
Brisbane, Australia