About Heide
Inge King, Rings of Saturn 2005–06, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Commissioned through the Heide Foundation with significant assistance from Lindsay and Paula Fox 2005. Photograph: John Gollings
Overview
Heide is a public art museum and sculpture park located on a stretch of the Birrarung/Yarra River in Melbourne that has long served as a meeting point and as a creative hub.
Once a significant Wurundjeri gathering place, the site later attracted the artists of the Australian Impressionist School before becoming the home of art patrons John and Sunday Reed in 1934.
The Reeds and their circle of artists and writers embraced the brave and the new in art and ideas and their spirited legacy inspires the museum’s activities today, from collaborating with emerging and mid-career artists to celebrating those who have made major contributions to Australian and international art.
Set on 6.5 hectares of parkland with five gallery spaces, award-winning architecture and a distinctive collection of more than 3,600 works of art, Heide holds a special place in the cultural landscape of Australia.
Heide began life in 1934 as the home of John and Sunday Reed and has since evolved into one of Australia’s most important cultural institutions.
Exhibitions
Presenting over 300 solo, group and thematic exhibitions of modern and contemporary art since becoming a public art museum in 1981, Heide has gained a national reputation for artistic excellence and established a unique position in the artistic and cultural history of Australia.
The work of modernist artists of the ‘Heide circle’ has featured in the exhibition program since the inaugural exhibition Ned Kelly Paintings by Sidney Nolan in 1981. Since then the museum has presented thematic surveys of many artists closely associated with John and Sunday Reed, including Sam Atyeo, Arthur Boyd, Mike Brown, Charles Blackman, Moya Dyring, Joy Hester, Mirka Mora, Albert Tucker and Danila Vassilieff
Our purpose
“I like to think of Heide as a cultural and green oasis in Melbourne’s urban fringe. It is a place where art, architecture and landscape are shared and enjoyed, and where creative experimentation and achievement is celebrated.”
— Lesley Harding, Artistic Director