[Head of Gallipoli soldier with cigarette]

The portraits and landscapes in Sidney Nolan’s Gallipoli series represent an attempt to define the Australian national character. They provide timeless images of the Anzacs: the young and the old, the innocent and the war-weary, the bushman and the city-dweller.
The 252 paintings and drawings from the series that Nolan (1917–1992) donated to the Australian War Memorial in 1978 chart Nolan’s 20-year struggle to create a visual language with which to express the Gallipoli tragedy. Even at the time of his donation, Nolan was still talking about painting more images, as he felt he had not thoroughly explored this momentous event in Australia’s history. In the event, other ventures and travels drew him away and he never returned to the Gallipoli story.