1939
7 April: Born in Rose Bay Sydney to Beryl and Clem Whiteley. Spent early years in the family home at 18 Lucretia Avenue,
Longueville, Sydney.
1946
Won his first art competition at the annual RSPCA Art Exhibition at Farmer’s Blaxland Gallery, Sydney, for the crayon
drawing The Driver Sits in the Shade but what about the Horse?
1948
February: Sent to boarding school at Scots College, Bathurst, New South Wales.
1954
17 March: Viewed Lloyd Rees exhibition 22 European Paintings at Macquarie Galleries, Sydney.
Briefly attended Scots College, Sydney, 1954–55.
1955
Returned to Scots College, Bathurst.
1956
Awarded first prize, ‘Young Painters’ Section’, Bathurst Show, New South Wales.
June: Parents separated and his mother, Beryl, departed Australia for an indefinite period overseas.
Quit school mid-term. Joined the layout and commercial art department of Lintas Advertising Agency, Sydney.
Met Wendy Julius, aged 15, at Jericho’s coffee shop in Rowe Street, Sydney. Later reintroduced by a friend, Tony Appelbaum,
at Longueville.
1957–59
Sporadically attended art classes at East Sydney Technical College, Darlinghurst, Juliann Ashton Art School, The Rocks and
at John Santry’s Sketch Club, Northwood.
Painting on weekends at Bathurst, Sofala, Hill End and along the south coast of New South Wales.
Painted at The City Refuge and Soup Kitchen located in Kent Street, Sydney.
1959
Resigned from Lintas to prepare entries for the Flotta Lauro Italian Scholarship competition.
17 November: Awarded the Flotto Lauro Italian Government Travelling Art Scholarship for 1960 which included a return trip
to Italy and 10 months’ study and a monthly living allowance of £43.
Joined the stable of artists at Rudy Komon Art Gallery, Paddington, Sydney.
1960
23 January: Departed Australia on board ‘Oceania’.
25 February: Arrived at Naples, Italy.
March–May: Reunited with his mother in Rome and lived with her for three months in their rented apartment at 29 Degli
Spagnoli, near The Spanish Steps. Made brief trips to London and Paris.
May: Moved to Florence and lived on the upper floor of a house at 93 Viale Giovanni Milton, in the same building as Stephen
Walker, a Tasmanian sculptor.
14 June: Reunited with Wendy in Paris and, after two weeks visiting galleries together, they returned to Florence.
Travelled extensively in Italy, visiting Siena, Pisa, Arezzo, and Venice where, with Michael Johnson, he viewed the Venice
Biennale. Stopped on the way back in Grizzana to visit Giorgio Morandi. in Grizzana.
November: Moved to London and into a third-floor apartment at 129 Ladbroke Grove, W11, where Michael Johnson was
already resident.
December: Met British artists William Scott and Roger Hilton and other Australian artists then in London including Charles
Blackman, Arthur Boyd, Lawrence Daws and Sidney Nolan. Met Bryan Robertson, Director of Whitechapel Gallery, London
and was invited by Robertson to participate in the forthcoming survey of Australian painting at the Whitechapel Art Gallery.
1961
Awarded a grant under the Dyason Bequest, administered by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, for Australian artists
working overseas.
Awarded Commonwealth Arts Advisory Board Scholarship, that enabled him to work in Paris from September to October.
Early June: Professional career launched with the sale to the Tate Gallery of Untitled Red Painting 1960, from the exhibition, Survey of Recent Australian Painting which opened in June at the Whitechapel Gallery in London.
Attended the Young Painters convention, in Paris, representing the Australian National Committee of UNESCO’s International Association of Plastic Arts,
October: Received the International prize at the Deuxième [Second] Biennale de Paris, des Jeunes Peintres et Sculpteurs.
1962
23 January: Travelled to Holland with Lawrence Daws visiting the Rijksmuseum and other galleries.
9 March: Inaugural solo exhibition opened at Matthiesen Gallery, St James’s, London.
27 March: Married Wendy Julius at Chelsea Registry office, London. Michael Johnson was best man.
March: Travelled to Bradford, in Yorkshire, Clem Whiteley’s childhood home.
April−September: The newlyweds travelled in Europe with Whiteley’s father, Clem, visiting Germany, Italy, France and Barcelona.
Clem Whiteley returned to Australia.
Brett and Wendy stayed at Bagnères de Bigorre in the Pyrenees with American painter George Sheridan before moving in to a cottage at Sigean, in the south of France, where they spent the summer months.
October: Travelled to the USA and visited Washington, Connecticut and New York.
20 October: Arrived in New York. Met Willem de Kooning.
November: Returned to London and moved into an apartment at 13 Pembridge Crescent, W11, leasing the apartment for one year.
1963
10 April: First solo exhibition in Australia opened at Rudy Komon Art Gallery, Woollahra, Sydney.
3 May: Death of Clem Whiteley.
December: Moved into 18A Melbury Road, London, W14 (formerly the studio of Pre-Raphaelite artist Holman Hunt).
Vacationed in Deya, Majorca.
1964
23 April: The opening of first solo exhibition at Marlborough New London Gallery, featuring the Bathroom series.
May–June: Travelled to Spain and France. (shown in passport stamps 1964.)
June–July: Vacationed in Deya, Majorca.
September: Awarded the Drawing Prize in the Internationale der Zeichnung, the First International Graphics Exhibition at Darmstadt, Germany, for Bather and Heater (1963–64).
Awarded Travel Grant from the Stuyvesant Foundation.
Began working on the Christie series.
6 November: Daughter Arkie Dewa was born at St George’s Hospital, London.
1965
February: Awarded first prize in the T. E. Wardle Invitation Art Prize in association with the Festival of Perth for Woman in the Bath 4 1963–64).
June–July: Vacationed in Deya, Majorca.
6 October: Solo exhibition, Brett Whiteley, featuring the Christie and Zoo series, opened at Marlborough New London Gallery, London.
Returned to Sydney, via Honolulu, staying mainly at Whale Beach, for the next seven months in a house rented at 152 Whale Beach Road.
1966
7 March: Solo exhibition, Recent Works from London by Brett Whiteley, opened at Bonython Art Gallery, Adelaide.
5 August: Departed Sydney returning to London via Hong Kong and Calcutta. Spent ten days in Calcutta.
September: Returned to London.
Revisited Piero della Francesca’s The Baptism of Christ (1460) in the National Gallery, London, the inspiration for Fidgeting with Infinity 1966–67.
27 September: Solo exhibition, 23 Items by Brett Whiteley, opened at Australian Galleries, Melbourne.
1967
8 May–17 June: Brett, Wendy and Arkie vacationed in Tangier during the outbreak of the Six Day War. Spent three days in Madrid, visiting the Prado Museum before travelling to Deya, Majorca.
Awarded a Harkness Fellowship which afforded him two years’ study in New York.
September: Sailed on the Queen Mary to New York. The Whiteley family moved into an apartment in the Chelsea Hotel on 23rd Street, on the lower west side, Manhattan.
2 October: Solo exhibition, Brett Whiteley, opened at Marlborough New London Gallery, London.
1968
5 February: Solo exhibition, Brett Whiteley, opened at Bonython Art Gallery, Sydney.
Commenced working on his epic 18 panel work, The American Dream.
17 May: Solo exhibition, Brett Whiteley: Recent Work, opened at Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York.
1969
July: Fled New York for Fiji where the Whiteley family lived for five months in a bure at Navutelevu on the coast, about 72 km from Suva.
October: In Suva, organised a solo exhibition of his recent paintings (opened in October). Fined £F50 in Suva for possession of a drug and expelled from Fiji.
November: Sailed for Sydney on the ‘Orcades’.
2 November: Arrived in Sydney. Stayed briefly with friends at Cessnock before leasing and moving into an upstairs apartment at Walker Street, Lavender Bay.
1970
Painted Cave Murals at Drip Gorge and with Peter Kingston made the video, Brett and Butter documenting the experience.
15 June: Solo exhibition, Brett Whiteley, opened at Bonython Art Gallery, Sydney.
7 August: Solo exhibition, Brett Whiteley, Sounds, Paintings, Film, Sculpture, Drawings, Jottings, Innuendos, and Sideglances, opened at Australian Galleries, Melbourne.
September: Awarded second prize in the First Leasing Art Prize ($1,500).
November: Participated with fellow artists in the activities of the Yellow House artists’ community at Potts Point, Sydney.
1971
Rented Gasworks studio in Waverton.
1972
February: Commenced work on his large-scale autobiographical work, Alchemy.
29 February: Solo exhibition Brett Whiteley: Portraits and Other Emergencies, opened at Bonython Art Gallery, Sydney.
28 March: Portraits and Other Emergencies opened at Australian Galleries, Melbourne.
1973
1 June: Solo exhibition, Waves, opened at Australian Galleries, Melbourne.
June: Travelled to North Africa – Mauritius, South Africa, Nairobi in Kenya, Addis Ababa and Harar in Ethiopia and Cairo in Egypt.
August: Travelled to England and France. Visited Charleville, France, the birthplace of Rimbaud.
1974
5 January: Solo exhibition, Brett Whiteley: Drawings 1960–1973, opened at Bonython Art Gallery, Sydney.
1 March: Purchased house at 1 Walker Street, North Sydney (Lavender Bay) for $50,000.
May–June: First trip to Bali, Indonesia accompanied by Jennifer Claire and Ian Lightfoot. Made a brief visit to Celebes (now known as Sulawesi) from Bali.
19 November: Solo exhibition, Brett Whiteley: Lavender Bay Series, opened at Australian Galleries, Melbourne.
Relinquishes lease on Gasworks Studio to Tim Storrier.
1975
March: Travelled to New York with Wendy.
10 May: Attended opening of a new solo exhibition of drawings at Marlborough’s Prints and Drawings Gallery, New York.
August: With Wendy and Arkie, joined Yvonne and Arthur Boyd at their property ‘Riversdale’ on the Shoalhaven River at Bundanon, New South Wales.
17 September: Awarded the Sir William Angliss Memorial Art Prize.
Early October: Travelled to Hong Kong.
Moved his studio to Walker Street, Lavender Bay.
24 October: Solo exhibition, brett whiteley: Thirty-six looks at four sights on three themes, recent paintings, drawings and carvings, opened at Bonython Art Gallery, Sydney.
1976
Visited Bali accompanied by sister, Frannie. Stayed at the Champion Hotel, Ubud.
9 March: Solo exhibition, Brett Whiteley, opened at Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane.
12 March: Visited Lawrence Daws at Beerwah, north of the Glass House Mountains in Queensland.
21 September: Solo exhibition, Brett Whiteley: Recent Interiors, Still lifes, Windowscapes, Sculpture and Ceramics, opened at Australian Galleries, Melbourne.
1977
21 January 1977: Awarded the Archibald Prize 1976 for Self Portrait in the Studio 1976 and the Sulman Prize for Interior with Time Past 1976. Finalist in the Wynne Prize 1976 with The River at Marulan (….Reading Einstein’s Geography), 1976.
1 March: Solo exhibition, Rivers, opened at Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney.
16 April: Sketched at Carcoar, New South Wales.
March to August: Travelled to London via Bangkok.
August: Stayed with Joel Elenberg at Arthur Boyd’s Italian house, Casa Paletaio, in Pisa. Travelled to Venice, Florence and Rome in Italy.
December: Awarded the Wynne Prize 1977 for The Jacaranda Tree (on Sydney Harbour) 1977.
1978
June–August: Travelled to Bali and New Caledonia.
12 July: Solo exhibition, Brett Whiteley: paintings, drawings and three scrolls plus one bronze from 1960 Italy never before shown in Australia opened at
Australian Galleries, Melbourne.
September: Returned to Bali.
December: Awarded the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes 1978 for Art, Life and the Other Thing 1978; Summer at Carcoar 1977, and Yellow Nude 1978, making Whiteley the first artist to win all three prizes in one year.
1979
8 April: Solo exhibition, Brett Whiteley: Birds and Animals, Taronga Park Zoo, opened at Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney.
Publication of Sandra McGrath’s monograph, Brett Whiteley.
Shared studio in Lavender Bay with Joel Elenberg.
18 May: Interviewed by James Gleeson for his Oral History Collection at the National Gallery of Australia.
Mid July: Stayed for two months at Oberon, west of Sydney.
October–November: Visited Lawrence Daws in Queensland with Joel Elenberg.
1980
February: Travelled to Naples.
26 April: Solo exhibition, Brett Whiteley: Portraits: Crucifixions: (a paddock at) Oberon, opened by Robin Gibson at David Reid’s Gallery, Sydney.
11 June to September: Stayed in Bali with Joel Elenberg and his family, Anna and Zahava. Friends of Joel including Diana Gude, Tim Storrier, Kate Fitzpatrick and Wendy Hughes were also there to support him during his last days.
10 July: Death of Joel Elenberg in Bali.
Travelled to Queensland.
1981
February: Death of an old friend and mentor, Bill Pidgeon, painter and cartoonist.
Moved to a new studio on the first floor at 8 Reiby Place, Circular Quay.
Christian Quintas employed as his studio manager.
February: Stayed with Lawrence Daws in Queensland.
Solo exhibition, Brett Whiteley: Drawings and Gouaches, opened at Philip Bacon Galleries, Queensland.
3 October: Solo exhibition, Recent Nudes, opened at the Reiby Place studio.
November: Brett, Wendy and Arkie Whiteley stayed in Port Vila, Vanuatu, New Hebrides with friends, including Peter Kingston,
1982
Began work on the Vincent van Gogh series.
Travelled to France and, in the footsteps of Vincent van Gogh, went to Arles and St-Rémy-de-Provence.
Later in the year, travelled to London with Wendy, stopping at Mojácar in Spain where they stayed with Pat and Penny Allen.
Stayed alone in Rome to work with Walter Rossi on three etchings at Vigna Antoniniana.
Visited Frankfurt in Germany before returning to Australia.
1983
March: Attended six performances of John Illsley / Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits concert tour at Hordern Pavilion, Sydney.
28 May: Solo exhibition, Life and Death: A Visual Experience in Opposites – 1983 – Brett Whiteley, opened at Australian Galleries, Melbourne.
4 July: Solo exhibition, Another Way of Looking at Vincent van Gogh 1888–1889 by Brett Whiteley 1968–1983, opened at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney.
July: Travelled to Glass House Mountains, Queensland.
Travelled to Port Vila, Vanuatu to ‘get clean’ accompanied by Christian Quintas.
1984
February: Travelled to Hill End, New South Wales on a painting trip.
12 July: Solo exhibition, Brett Whiteley: Eden and Eve, opened at Australian Galleries, Melbourne.
25 July: Flew to London (probably via Singapore) where Wendy joined him three weeks later. Checked into Broadway Lodge in Somerset for drug rehabilitation.
Visited Francis Bacon, who was almost 75 years old.
Travelled to Paris.
November: Travelled to Tasmania.
December: Awarded the Wynne Prize 1984 for South Coast after the Rain 1984.
1985
April: Travelled to Central Australia with Michael Driscoll and worked on drawings and ideas for the publication, Native Rose.
May: Travelled to London via Bombay. Visited Francis Bacon retrospective at the Tate, London. Attended Dire Straits concert. Returned to Sydney. Wendy remained in England.
Mid-year: Purchased an old T-Shirt factory in Raper Street, Surry Hills, Sydney and converted it into a studio.
19 October: Solo exhibition, 162 Drawings: Brett Whiteley: 1960–85, opened at Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney.
1986
16 February: Visited Hill End.
Travelled to India to meet Wendy in Bombay. They returned to Australia together.
October: Solo exhibition, Brett Whiteley: graphics, held at Newcastle Art Gallery (then called Newcastle Region Art Gallery), New South Wales.
1987
27 January: Travelled to Perth for opening of solo exhibition, Brett Whiteley: Van Gogh Self-Portraits, at Greenhill Galleries.
26 November–30 December: Travelled to USA with Janice Spencer following the trail of Howard Hughes. Visited New York. Travelled to London.
1988
9 January: Stayed at Camp Eden, health retreat in the Currumbin Vallery, Queensland.
5 July: Opening of Whiteley’s solo exhibition, Brett Whiteley: ‘Birds’: 1988: recent paintings, drawings, sculpture, and one screen print, at his Raper Street studio in Surry Hills.
Mid July–20 August: Travelled to Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan accompanied by Janice Spencer with a three-week stopover in Bali on their return home.
October – December: Lived in Sydney with Janice Spencer.
2 December: Death of Lloyd Rees.
1989
Divorce from Wendy.
30 January–17 February: Stayed for two weeks at Wategos Beach, Byron Bay where he worked on the Holiday Suite of paintings and drawings.
16–28 May: Travelled with Janice Spencer to London staying at the Blake Hotel, then visited Marrakesh and Morocco.
June and July: Rented an apartment on Rue de Tournon in Paris. Made a brief trip to Italy.
September: Spent one week in Fiji with Janice Spencer.
1990
1 March; Solo exhibition of recent works from Paris, Byron Bay, Marrakesh, Japan and Italy opened at Australian Galleries, Sydney.
1 March: Solo exhibition, Regard de Côté, opened at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
14 April: Solo exhibition, Brett Whiteley, 1958–1989, The Central West, opened at the Orange Regional Gallery, Orange, New South Wales.
April: Flew to London with his mother, Beryl. Visited the Cotswolds with Arkie and Arkie’s husband, Christopher Kuhn.
Attended the opening of Vincent van Gogh retrospective at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and visited Venice Biennale in Venice.
Stayed at an apartment in Paris for a few weeks.
1991
February: Travelled in USA visiting Los Angeles, Denver and Minneapolis. Attended an addiction treatment centre in Minnesota.
March: Visited Lawrence Daws at Beerwah, Queensland with his mother.
10 June: Awarded Order of Australia Medal (General Division).
September: Brief trip to Port Douglas with Wendy.
1992
15 June: Died in a motel room at Thirroul, New South Wales from a drug overdose.
1995
The Raper Street Studio was purchased by the NSW State Government to become a house museum known as the Brett Whiteley Studio, managed by the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Retrospective exhibited, Brett Whiteley: Art and Life, held at Art Gallery of New South Wales.
2001
19 December: Death of Arkie Whiteley.
2010
Death of Beryl Whiteley.