Heide Museum of Modern Art

Established in 1981 as a public art gallery, Heide was purchased in 1934 as a treeless dairy farm by Heide’s founding benefactors, John and Sunday Reed.

John and Sunday fostered Heide during revolutionary years in Australian art as an idyllic refuge of inspiration for artists and intellectuals. Heide and the Reeds became synonymous with the creative friends they attracted - most notably, the leading exponents of Australian modernism, Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker and Joy Hester. Nolan’s famous Ned Kelly series was painted in the dining room of Heide I.

In 1964 the Reeds commissioned a new house on the property – Heide II. Designed by architect David McGlashan, of McGlashan Everist, this modernist building has been recognised as one of Victoria’s most influential buildings from the last 50 years, and was awarded the 1968 Victorian Architecture Medal. 

It was purchased by the Victorian Government in 1980 and established as a  public gallery for modern and contemporary art. A large number of works from the Reeds’ personal collection forms the core of the Heide’s significant art collection.