Coming South
Tom Roberts, 1886
Painted in 1886 by the Australian artist Tom Roberts, this work shows migrants arriving in Australia from Europe aboard a steamship. Roberts drew on sketches made in 1885, during his return voyage to Australia aboard the SS Lusitania after four years in Europe, so the scene grows out of his own experience of the journey. The painting centres on arrival, a moment of hope and uncertainty that many people who have emigrated or waited for someone across the sea will recognise. The historian Humphrey McQueen counts it among Roberts's seven best-known paintings. The National Gallery of Victoria calls it a definitive image of the migrant experience and Roberts's first exploration of one of the great themes of Australian life, which gives it a central place in his career. The gallery acquired it in 1967.
- Painter
- Tom Roberts
- Date
- 1886
- Medium
- oil paint, canvas
- Dimensions
- 64 × 52 cm
- Museum
- National Gallery of Victoria, City of Melbourne
- Depicts
- steamship, human migration
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