![\"Nick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/d5ebe4c52d91e979dfe1f861fd63b871c69067a6a09fe39a8498aaac51e48021.png\")
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Among the myriad paintbrushes, paints, tools, musical instruments and personal effects scattered around the floor of Brett Whiteley\u2019s former studio stands a battered green wicker chair.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody\u2019s allowed to sit in there,\u201d says Wendy Whiteley, former wife, art patron and muse of the iconic artist. \u201cThe last bum in there was Brett\u2019s. That was his chair. He brought that chair with him wherever he went.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s typical of the fierce protectiveness Wendy maintains over the legacy of Whiteley, who died in 1992 from an accidental drug overdose.<\/p>\n Wendy ensures everything, down to the last tiny item, in the upstairs room of what was Whiteley\u2019s final home in Surry Hills is kept as it was when he died in a Thirroul motel room.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the heart of the building,\u201d she says, gesturing around the studio. \u201cMost people say the kitchen is the heart of the building. But this is the heart of the building here.\u201d<\/p>\n The building in question is now a gallery space, The Brett Whiteley Studio, owned by the Art Gallery of NSW. The three-storey former T-shirt factory reopens today after closing in June 2024 for a meticulous renovation project to bring the building up to contemporary museum standards.<\/p>\n Work carried out includes the installation of a lift, better disability access, a new roof and the addition of a library. The challenge has been to upgrade the structure without losing the authentic spirit that draws thousands of visitors each year.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we first finished this refurb, I walked in and it was just a big empty building with white walls,\u201d says Wendy. \u201cI freaked out. I thought, \u2018Oh my god, Brett\u2019s not here any more\u2019. But the minute we started putting the stuff back and brought the pictures in, he was back. That\u2019s the power of his work. With the work comes the personality.\u201d<\/p>\n The reopening will be marked by talks and events and a new exhibition, Brett Whiteley: Coming Home. On display will be works from 1969 when the Whiteleys were living in Fiji (they were famously ejected from the country by the Fiji government when Whiteley unwisely talked to locals about his marijuana use) and later after the family returned to Australia.<\/p>\n Curator Beatrice Gralton, who has worked at the studio for the past five years, says the place constantly has more insights to offer into Whiteley\u2019s life and his practice.<\/p>\n \u201cI always find something new when I come back to the studio, which I love,\u201d she says. \u201cI think that\u2019s the thing about working here. It\u2019s a very unguarded way to understand an artist\u2019s practice. You get to understand the depth of the collection and the arc of a person\u2019s creative production. The bad hair days and the good hair days and the ebb and the flow of all of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Surry Hills in the late \u201980s was a very different place from the gentrified suburb it has morphed into now. Edgy and grimy, it was home to many creative types who have since become household names.<\/p>\n \u201cPaul Kelly moved in around the corner and dropped over the album he\u2019d just released with a little handwritten note saying, \u2018Dear Brett, I think you might like to listen to this\u2019,\u201d says Gralton. \u201cI was going through the record collection a couple of years ago and I found that note. I thought, \u2018Ooh, he was just living around the corner.\u2019 So there was such a community here.\u201d<\/p>\n Gralton has closely overseen the refurbishment by architects Tonkin Zulaikha Greer, even carefully preserving the sound of the original floor.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was like an archaeological kind of experience,\u201d she says. \u201cEven down to the squeaks and creaks in the floor. That was really important to maintain. The architects had said, \u2018Do you want us to change that? We can fix that.\u2019 And it was like, \u2018No, no, no, no. It\u2019s part of the studio\u2019. You come in here and it\u2019s a squeaky kind of place.\u201d<\/p>\n Wendy has pronounced herself very happy with the result of the project, but what might Whiteley have thought?<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019d be OK with it,\u201d she says. \u201cHe\u2019d be quite happy. I mean, he\u2019s been looked after incredibly well since he died. He\u2019s still getting a lot of attention, which is what it\u2019s all about. There\u2019s no point having these places unless people are actually coming to them. There\u2019s no point in being an artist unless you\u2019re sharing it with somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n The Brett Whiteley Studio<\/a>, 2 Raper St, Surry Hills, is open to the public Thursday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm. Entry is free. <\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>. <\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n![\"Wendy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/85cd6597314b1360a7ff356112bd1316a468b85c.jpeg\")
Wendy Whiteley believes her former husband would have been happy to see the work done on his studio. Steven Siewert<\/p>\n![\"Whiteley](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/770f5c113da0e27f0d45938264a15c3581750abb.jpeg\")
Whiteley arrives in Sydney with his wife Wendy and daughter Arkie in 1969.
\nMartin Brannan<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/f490aa759462a6bf66b06d14e3839e3bf1311d61.jpeg\")
The iconic green chair in the Whiteley studio. <\/p>\n![\"Whiteley](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5a6eb30768623df125e9c86151869864dd881e1a.jpeg\")
Whiteley in his studio in 1985.Gerritt Fokkema<\/p>\n