Melbourne - Heide Museum of Modern Art

Have you ever drive along a road or freeway and notice one of those tourist signs that says something about a place to see or visit, and you always wonder what its about or say to yourself that you'll do that one, one of these days ....and that day has yet to come.

Well Heide Museum of Modern Art, commonly known as Heide, was one such place. Finally decided one weekend to take the plunge and go explore the place, and we were plesantly surprised.

It is a contemporary art museum located in Bulleen, east of Melbourne. It is a small museum on a large ground; 16 acres of buildings, gardens and sculpture park presenting a dramatic combination of indoor and outdoor spaces, on which you can explore and depending on the day, you might just prefer the outdoor than the indoor.

There is a small admission fee for any exhibitions that may be happening at the day. There are also conducted tours of the place but the grounds; gardens and sculpture park are FREE.

If you fancy a bite or two with a latte or a pot of tea, there is Cafe Vue at Heide. For those who like shopping there is always the Heide Store.

This is a place to wild away a couple of hours or a whole day with friends or families. Good place to have a picnic at the park, plenty of space for the children to run around among the sculptures while the rest of the family could stroll along a path and admire/contemplate the sculptures.

There’s much to explore. One of the attractions of the site is the original home of art patrons John and Sunday Reed, the heritage-listed, Victorian farmhouse, Heide I. There is the iconic McGlashan and Everist designed modernist building Heide II, the recently redeveloped Heide III building featuring the Central Galleries, Albert and Barbara Tucker Gallery, Kerry Gardner and Andrew Myer Project Gallery.

Heide also boasts several iconic art pieces of Australia's best-known modernist painters, such as; Albert Tucker, Laurence Hope, Joy Hester and Sidney Nolan. Heide house the Sidney Nolan's Ned Kelly series.

The above are photos of some of the outdoor artwork, sculptures, gardens and buildings you can see. Some of the photos above, with a special thank you from me, are contributed from Sarah, Margaret's niece who is also a keen photographer.

Click on this link to Wikipedia for more on Heide Museum of Modern Art; early history, buildings, access, collection and gallery.