The work of George Baldessin (1939 – 1978) is represented in all major art galleries and collections around Australia, as well as the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and the British Museum in London. Baldessin represented Australia at the Sao Paolo Biennale alongside Imants Tillers in 1975 and is perhaps best known for his popular giant Pears sculpture at the entrance to the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra.

Despite his incredibly short life (he was 39 years old when he died in a car accident in 1978), he left a huge body of work which continues to impress and astonish with its contemporary feel. Baldessin combines and re-combines different elements to make new narratives and conceptual meaning. The pear becomes the woman, the hat the emblem, and the emblem the woman again. This creative “play” is indicative of Baldessin’s huge talent and confidence beyond his artistic years. His relentless pace to progress meant that he left a mature body of work worthy of a significantly older artist.