A FRED Williams interpretation of the You Yangs is tipped to fetch as much as $2 million at auction later this year.
Part of a renowned Grundy Collection to go under the hammer of international auctioneer Bonhams, the 1963 painting You Yangs Landscape 1 is an abstract expression of dark and light tones peppered across an ochre plainscape.
Bonhams tips the painting to draw the highest price from the 90-piece collection, which could yield $20 million in total.
Williams, who died in 1982, is considered one of Australia’s greatest artists.
His You Yangs series, painted at the peak of his career, show trees and other features as if observed from the above.
Geelong Gallery director Geoffrey Edwards said Williams’ landscapes were abstract but still effective representations of the landscape.
“He makes you think. His paintings are happy pictorial puzzles,” Mr Edwards said.
“The more you look into it, as anyone who’s looked out an aircraft window and seen a big Fred Williams painting, it’s so clever.”
Geelong Gallery has several Williams works in its collection, including his celebrated Yellow Landscape.
