Images of Geelong and the region are a key collecting area for Geelong Gallery and this painting of the coastal area of Lorne is one of the most recent acquisitions. Streeton's depiction of the shimmering summer sky, its intense blue hue, the seemingly effortless painting of the trunks and canopies of slender young gum trees and how in this work we look down from a cliff top to the pristine beach below, all make for a stunning composition.
Lorne certainly provided the Streeton family with a memorable summer interlude in 1921 when this work was painted. The artist himself thought so highly of Ocean blue, Lorne that he retained it in the family's possession for decades and later featured it in a deluxe publication of his finest works.