Painter Don Neilson was known for his landscape works in oil, charcoal, ink and pencil. He started painting by embarking on weekend painting trips around the rugged Wellington and Wairarapa coastline where he lived, sometimes in the company of artist John Magurk. Neilson spoke of ‘the great outdoors’ as being the only art school he ever attended.

In 1959 Neilson was the first New Zealand artist to visit Antarctica as a guest of the United States Government and capture its unique landscape on canvas, creating detailed, hyper-realistic, photographic-documentary-style paintings. A quiet, complex thinker, Neilson’s painting changed style over time, as he embraced a more painterly, expressive style where the paint and pigment were explored as materials rather than simply as tools. He was a published author on art subjects, and his own work was published in, a now-rare book, The Art of DR Neilson.

Don Neilson (born 1924 Wellington – died 2013 Wairarapa) was a professional New Zealand painter whose works were keenly sought by galleries and art patrons worldwide. Neilson’s paintings have been presented to dignitaries including the King of Thailand and Governor-Generals and hang in city council and government buildings. Neilson also represented New Zealand in an UNESCO exhibition held in Paris.