Frutta Mista del Mare 1991

JOHN OLSEN (1928-2023)

Frutta Mista del Mare 1991

watercolour, ink and pastel on paper
99.5 x 94.5 cm; 112.5 x 105.5 cm (framed)
signed, dated and inscribed lower right: Frutta Mista/ Del Mare/ John Olsen 91

Provenance:
Private collection, Melbourne
Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 11 August 1992, lot 175 (as Frutta Misto [sic] del Mare)
The Kerry Stokes AC Collection, Perth
Sotheby\x92s, Art from the Kerry Stokes Collection, Sydney, 26 August 2002, lot 501 (as Frutta Misto [sic] del Mare)
Galeria Aniela, New South Wales
Private collection
Art Index, Sydney, 2019
Private collection, Sydney

Reference:
Olsen, J. & McGregor, K., John Olsen: Drawing - The Human Touch, Macmillan Art Publishing, Melbourne, 2014, p.78 (illus., as Frutta Misto [sic] del Mare)

We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Kylie Norton with cataloguing this work.

Estimate: $50000 - 70000

Result Hammer: $70000

John Olsen’s Frutta Mista del Mare 1991, exemplifies his lifelong passion for food as a source of artistic inspiration. The title, translating to ‘Mixed Fruits of the Sea’ – a reference to a seafood dish often made with a variety of shellfish, fish, or molluscs – reflects the artist’s deep immersion in Mediterranean culture, where cuisine exists as a communal and sensory experience. ‘Cooking is a life force for me,’(1) he stated – Olsen’s love of culinary exploits knew no bounds; this is a work that connects Olsen’s love of cooking to the sea, an omnipresent theme in his art over seven decades. 

Olsen’s fascination with Mediterranean culture began in Spain in the 1950s, a country he would revisit throughout his lifetime. Influenced by the vibrancy of daily life and the spontaneity of Spanish cuisine, he embraced a newfound style that favoured partial abstraction, movement and free-flowing colour.

Olsen acknowledged the metaphorical nature of his food-inspired works, once stating, ‘I’ve painted paellas, which, if you have a suitably metaphorical turn of mind, can be seen as depictions of the sun.’(2) This sentiment extends to Frutta Mista del Mare, which captures the organic chaos of a seafood feast, where tentacles, shells, and marine creatures swirl together in a kinetic composition that recalls the act of the sheer joy and immediacy of cooking and eating.

The influence of the Northern European CoBrA movement is particularly evident, as its emphasis on emotional expression through colour and form is central to the artist’s approach. This method of painting, which prioritises spontaneity and gestural dynamism, stands as one of Olsen’s most significant contributions to Australian art.

The delicate application of colour in this work, achieved through watercolour, imparts a translucent quality to the surface, evoking the sensation of peering into the ocean's depths. The fluidity and expressiveness of the pastel and ink lines reflect Olsen’s evident joy in the creative process.

Upon closer examination, the central, shadowy form dominating the composition, with its tentacle-like extensions, reveals itself as a frying pan – a vessel for cooking a frutta mista del mare. Emerging from the pan, the face of a fish gazes outward, while a squid and crab stare back from the ocean floor. The painting evokes the preparation process – the gathering and assembling of ingredients – as if the pan is being dipped directly into the sea, scooping up the essential elements for this communal dish.

Beyond celebrating culinary culture, Frutta Mista del Mare aligns with Olsen’s broader philosophy of interconnectedness between humanity and the natural world. His fluid, meandering lines mimic the movement of water, linking to his deep fascination with the sea and its rhythms.

Olsen once stated, ‘I am in the sea, and the sea is in me,’(3) encapsulating his immersive approach to nature and artistic practice. This deep connection to the sea was undoubtedly shaped by an idyllic childhood spent by the seaside in Sydney. It would be reignited in the early 1960s when, after returning from overseas, Olsen moved with his young family into a quaint fisherman’s cottage in Watsons Bay, perched at the edge of South Head. Once again immersed in the harbour’s vibrancy, he embarked on his celebrated ‘littoral’ series – dynamic works that pulse with the movement of tides, city life, and human energy, brought to life with bold colour and expressive brushwork. Examples include Entrance to the Seaport of Desire 1964 and the acclaimed Five Bells 1963, both held in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.

Footnotes

1. McCormick, A., The Artist’s Lunch, Murdoch Books, Sydney, 2008, p.59
2. Ibid., 60
3. John Olsen, quoted in ‘John Olsen: Five Bells,’ Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, accessed March 2025: https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/133.1999/#about

Joey Hespe

Joey Hespe has seventeen years of experience in the art industry across Australia and London, spanning galleries, auction houses, and institutions. She currently works at Maitland Regional Art Gallery as Gallery Officer and Editor of Artel, its members’ magazine. She freelances as an arts writer and has sat on various art boards and committees. Joey holds a Bachelor of Art Theory from the University of New South Wales, Sydney.

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