Sunday Reed

Sunday Reed (born Lelda Sunday Baillieu) (15 October 190515 December 1981) was an Australian patron of the arts. Along with her husband, John Reed, she established what is now the Heide Museum of Modern Art.

Personal life Reed was born on 15 October 1905 in Melbourne, Australia, to Arthur Sydney Baillieu and Ethel Mary Baillieu . She was a member of Melbourne's Baillieu family and the niece of William Baillieu, one of Australia's richest men. She was the third of four children and was homeschooled by a governess until she was 15. Reed finished her education at St Catherine's School, Toorak.

In the 1930s, Reed studied art under George Bell in his Bourke Street Studio School in Melbourne. Her only remaining work is a landscape drawing, showing her skill with colour and form.

In 1934, the Reeds purchased a former dairy farm on the Yarra River at Heidelberg, Victoria, now Bulleen, which became known as "Heide". They were both interested in many forms of art, including jazz, poetry, and writers. The couple hosted a variety of artists, for whom Reed would cook. According to Andrew Stephens, talented artists at Heide "helped shape Australian art from the 1930s on". The Reeds lived on the property until their deaths in 1981, a short time after the property had become the Heide Museum of Modern Art.

Reed cultivated a selection of wild roses, along with many other flowers. In 2015, about 150 of the 250 bushes she planted remained. She was resourceful in obtaining cuttings and plants, having some imported from overseas. The Reeds also sought out nurseries specialising in old roses, and sourced plants from Alister Clark, who bred some of Australia's more popular roses.

The couple supported the Communist Party of Australia (CPA). John helped fund CPA candidates in federal elections.

John Reed died of cancer on 5 December 1981. Sunday Reed died by suicide ten days later, on 15 December.

Heide Circle

A number of modernist artists came to live and work at Heide at various times during the 1930s, 40s and 50s; many of the most famous works of the period were painted there. These artists were known as the Heide Circle and included Sidney Nolan, husband-and-wife couple Sam Atyeo and Moya Dyring, Albert Tucker and Joy Hester (who married in 1941), John Perceval, and Laurence Hope, among others. Nolan painted all but one of his 1946–47 Ned Kelly series on the dining room table.

The Heide Circle is known for the intertwined personal and professional lives of the people involved. Atyeo had an affair with Sunday; Dyring had an affair with John. Although he spoke to the Reeds only once again, his years there have been seen as a significant factor in all their lives. Nolan once told Reed to take what she wanted, but he subsequently demanded all his works back. Reed returned 284 of his other paintings and drawings, but she refused to give up the 25 remaining Kellys, partly because she saw the works as fundamental to the proposed Heide Museum of Modern Art.

Philippe Mora's 2013 film Absolutely Modern discusses modernism, the female muse, and sexuality in art; it is based on 1940s Heide.

Rainey's 2014 play The Ménage at Soria Moria is a fictitious performance piece exploring the relationship between the Reeds and Nolan, both during Heide's heyday in the 1940s and in the years after.

Anthony Weigh's 2023 play ‘Sunday’ explore the relationship between Nolan and Sunday Reed.

The Sunday Reeds, an Adelaide rock band active since 2015, are named after her.

Namesakes Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban's daughter Sunday Rose Kidman, born in 2008, is said to be named after Reed; Kidman's father, Antony Kidman, has said he suggested the name. Urban stated in a 2009 interview that she was named after the day of the week, not Reed.