Provenance:
Lord Alistair McAlpine Australian City Properties Perth

Jane Clark explains that Nolan first made a small sketch of Narcissus on 10 May 1945 and later that day painted Narcissus and Waterfall which is inscribed as a present for Cynthia Reed, John Reed’s sister, whom Nolan would later marry in 1948.

“In Ovid’s Metamorphisis the beautiful demi-god Narcissus is punished by death for the vanity of falling in love with his own reflection, seen in a clear pool of water. He symbolises the artist’s self knowledge. In this self-portrait version of the story Nolan’s Narcissus has, ironically found a waterfall in which no reflection (or self knowledge) is ever possible – and is looking at the outside world instead of himself.”1

Narcissus and Waterfall was painted just before Nolan left Heide. In early 1947 Nolan would sever his connection with John and Sunday Reed and the complex volatile relationship which had all but consumed him. The complex undertones and highly charged emotions which precipitated the split are evident here.
RM

1 Clark J., Sidney Nolan: Landscapes and Legends, ICCA, Sydney, 1987, p.67.