William Robinson 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 instructor, teaching 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.
William Robinson / Qld Australia 1936–2025 / William and Shirley, flora and fauna 1985 / Oil on canvas / Purchased 1985 / © QAGOMA
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. William and Shirley, flora and fauna 1985, pictured here, 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 their Birkdale farm to a property at Beechmont in the Gold Coast Hinterland, the picture reflects their life together in their new surroundings.
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.
