About Robert Hagan
Thirty years of wild light, from a Tweed Valley boyhood to the world
You have been pushing paint around for about 30 years and you still love it, so yes, it is a hobby that refuses to be called a hobby.
Robert Hagan at a glance
- Born: Murwillumbah, New South Wales, Australia (raised in the Tweed Valley)
- Nationality: Australian
- Style/Medium: Impressionist oil painting with a limited palette
- Known for: Western scenes, maritime and beach paintings, horse racing, portraits
- Education: Economics degree and Diploma in Education; taught high school before painting full time
- Career: Painting for about 30 years across Australia, the USA, the UK and Asia
- Media: Hosted the travel and painting TV series Splash of Color (Discovery HD, 2009)
- Official website: roberthagan.com
Q: Who is this artist
A: Robert Hagan is an Australian painter who has painted for thirty years and Robert Hagan still loves every minute.
Boyhood in the Tweed Valley, stepping around sunbathing snakes, gave you a taste for wild light and the small dangers of being alive.
Q: What shaped Robert Hagan’s eye
A: The Tweed Valley and its light shaped Robert Hagan, giving Robert Hagan a love of nature and risk.
School was minimal bookwork and maximal football, the kind of education that teaches risk and recovery.
A 16 hour steam train to the big smoke and four years later you left with a degree and a head full of history, economics and late night stories.
Q: When did painting take over
A: Painting quietly won out while working, and Robert Hagan let painting take over his life.
Travel followed naturally, painting in the USA, the UK and across Asia, learning from places as much as from teachers.
Two great relationships, two fabulous boys, a few books and a brush with TV later, and here you are, still painting and still curious.
Q: What’s the takeaway
A: Keep painting, keep exploring, and let Robert Hagan’s steady joy be the example.
“Paint like you are stealing sunlight and giving it back.”
See more of Robert Hagan’s paintings on his official website: Robert Hagan’s Official Website