John Olsen is one of Australia’s most successful and famous painters and, at 93, is still heading into his studio every day to work.
“I’m an artist as a dog is a dog,” he says. “I didn’t choose my profession. It chose me.”
But for two of his children, Tim and Louise, John’s genius has cast great light and sometimes a long shadow.
John left the family when they were teenagers to pursue another relationship, leaving their mother Valerie devastated. John’s next two marriages would see the children often distanced from his life.
Tim Olsen would find his place in the art world as a dealer and gallery owner but his complex relationship with his father fuelled an addiction to alcohol that would almost bring his life and work undone.
“I had everything that looked great from the outside,” he says. “But I couldn’t see it.”
“He kept drinking to push down whatever pain he was in,” says his former wife, Dominique Ogilvy.
But trouble was brewing from another side of the family that would leave the Olsen family reeling…. and lead all the way to the Supreme Court.
Children of the Brush is the first of a two-part story offering an inside look at one of Australia’s great art dynasties and the complex cost of fame.
Producer: Vanessa Gorman
Watch Children of the Brush on Monday 3 May at 8pm on ABC TV + iview.
You can watch replays on ABC NEWS channel on Wednesdays at 12:30am, Saturdays at 6:30pm and Sundays at 2:30pm and 9:30pm. All times are AEDT.
