Birds regularly appear in Brett Whiteley’s paintings. As a child he was a frequent visitor to Sydney’s Taronga Park Zoo and developed a lifelong love of animals and the natural world. Whiteley believed that birds symbolised all that was hopeful and poetic in a corrupt world — a symbol reinforced by his romantic choice of title for this painting, White dove feeling the universe 1985–92.

Displaying Whiteley’s skill in handling a paintbrush and creating subtle variations in line, this work speaks to his long-standing interest in Japanese calligraphy and philosophies about the harmony in nature. The white dove, which has held significance in various cultures over centuries, is today recognised as an enduring symbol of peace.