John Olsen, one of Australia’s most acclaimed artists who was known for his distinctive  depictions of landscapes and nature, has died at 95. He died on Tuesday evening, surrounded by family.

Olsen was born in Newcastle in 1928. The painter’s career spanned more than 60 years, with his work exhibited in galleries across the nation and overseas, and he was a winner of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes.

In 1970, Olsen took on maybe his biggest challenge after being commissioned to paint a mural for the soon to be opened Sydney Opera House.

Olsen produced his acclaimed work SALUTE TO FIVE BELLS, inspired by the Kenneth Slessor poem of the same name, a mural over 21 metres wide and three murals tall.

After receiving an Order of Australia in 2001, Olsen described art as a form of compulsion, which he started developing at age four.

“Artists are born, not made,” he said.

Olsen received numerous other awards in his long career, including an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 1977, and continued painting well into his 90s.

He won the Archibald for self portrait Janus Faced in 2005, the Wynne Prize for The Chasing Bird Landscape in 1969 and A Road to Clarendon: Autumn in 1985, and the Sulman Prize for Don Quixote Enters the Inn in 1989.

National Gallery director Nick Mitzevich described Olsen as one of the country’s greatest artists , who made Australia his muse over the course of his career.

“John was always committed to his subjects. He always wanted you to know it was a landscape, or it was a sunset. He wanted you to be part of it, he wanted you to feel the energy the energy of the experience of that  moment in time”, he told ABC news.

Olsen could be picked out from a crowd by his wardrobe, frequently donning a beret and turtleneck sweater.

In 2022 he spoke to AAP about his affinity with rural and remote Australia, having long captured its wild terrain.

“To be an Australian landscape painter is to be an explorer,” he said after donating several of his works to a regional NSW gallery.

“There is so much to look at and observe about the Australian landscape, how it varies from tropical to the coastal fringe, and the interior.

“It’s so multiple. It’s a beautiful animal, that landscape.”

A tribute to his long and brilliant career will be beamed onto the Opera House’s sails next month during the Vivid Sydney festival.

Courtesy of the ABC/AAP