Sydney Long (1871-1955) is Australia's foremost Art Nouveau style painter and a major Symbolist. In works such as The Spirit of the plains 1897, Pan 1898 and Fantasy c 1914, as well as in his many versions of Flamingoes, he created magical images.
Long's Art Nouveau paintings are like reveries, an escape from the everyday; they create a feeling of spiritual elevation, of another reality. And yet, seeking imagery which conveyed the 'lonely and primitive feelings of this country', he captured something of the soul and tone of the Australian bush.