A break away!

Painted at a time of drought and looming economic depression, A break away! endures as a popular symbol of national pride and resilience. The dramatic scene of a stampede of thirst-crazed sheep is not a real event witnessed by the artist, but a composite of many different drawings and observations. Roberts was fascinated by the challenge of capturing figures in motion and was equally interested in modern photographic techniques. Here, even the title itself alludes to sudden movement and, by deliberately setting the scene against a still landscape background, the artist heightened the sense of speed and action of the figures in the foreground. In the centre he positions a rural hero, who attempts to prevent the frenzied animals from being crushed and drowned, while another stockman is obscured by the swirling dust among the trees. Tom Roberts regarded the painting as ‘the best outside thing I have managed ... it was done in the Riverina [District of New South Wales] through a hot dry summer … I felt sure, the strong feeling for the life of the country would tell through the work’.

Tom Roberts is one of Australia’s greatest artists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He is famous for being a leading member of the school of painting, known as the Australian Impressionists. Working mostly en plein air, the artists sought to capture in paint the distinguishing atmospheric qualities of Australia’s space, heat and light.

He is best known for his paintings that paid homage to Australia’s rural life and pastoral industry; however, he was also a commanding painter of portraits.

Tracey Lock, Curator of Australian Paintings and Sculpture