Modern Australian artists were immersed in the Second World War. They served in the armed forces, worked with labour groups or in factories, and were also employed as official artists observing, recording and interpreting military activity. Drawing on their immediate experiences, these men and women responded to the upheaval and anxiety of the period to create powerful imagery that explored all aspects of life during wartime. They were inspired to create innovative visual forms to interpret the experience of combat, the powerfully destructive machinery of war, and the vast social upheaval produced by global conflict.

Reality in flames: modern Australian art and the Second World War is the first exhibition dedicated exclusively to exploring how Australian modernist artists responded creatively to the Second World War. Comprising over eighty artworks drawn from the Australian War Memorial’s collection, Reality in flames features work by leading artists of the time including Joy Hester, Nora Heysen, Frank Hinder, Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker and Danila Vassilieff.

An Australian War Memorial Touring exhibition, presented by the Samstag Museum of Art alongside For Country, for Nation.