Art & Australia’s latest book project presents a new series of artworks by Del Kathryn Barton inspired by the wild energy of Oscar Wilde’s classic story The Nightingale and the Rose. Lusciously illustrated, the book contains 20 new paintings and drawings by the Archibald winning artist to accompany the words of Wilde’s timeless tale of love and loss. Del Barton’s exaggerated aesthetic has given a contemporary feel to a classic fairytale. The theme of ecstatic metamorphosis through song attracted Del Kathryn Barton to this story, where the life of a small bird is offered up for the ideal of love.

Barton sees the Nightingale as “the true artist, she gives completely of her deepest essence”.