Australian artist aims for auction record with nine-metre painting

With the aim of achieving a new auction record for contemporary artist Del Kathryn Barton – at the same time moving her into the category of the only living female Australian painter to reach more than $1 million for one of her auction works – Menzies is holding a single-lot sale from 6.30pm Thursday November 27 in its Sydney gallery at 12 Todman Avenue, Kensington.  

If this occurs, it will more than double Barton’s existing auction record of $430,000 hammer price or $527,727 including buyer’s premium.

The painting in question is entitled the heart land 2013-14, which is nine metres long and was commissioned for the 2014 Adelaide Biennale of Australian Art.

The work was displayed at the entrance to the exhibition, held at the Art Gallery of South Australia.

In her catalogue essay, curator Jenepher Duncan describes the heart land as one of Barton’s most ambitious works…”less landscape than a meticulously orchestrated mindscape”.

The painting’s central panel depicts an inverted female form, with a spliced torso sprouting branches from its open heart. The figure is surrounded by a vivid tableau of female avatars, native Australian fauna and botanical motifs, rendered in a dazzling array of pattern and colour.

As part of the National Gallery of Australia’s ongoing initiative to draw attention to Australian female artists, the heart land was featured in its 2020 publication Know My Name.