My interests of research explore art and visual philosophy. I’m also a collector. My favourite Australian artist is the late Margaret Olley and I own her Poppies and Checkered Cloth, provenance of Philip Bacon prior to July 2011.

In terms of the well known modern masters of art, my top three painters are Marc Chagall, Helen Frankenthaler and Joan Mitchell. I love art with expressive brushstrokes by Delacroix, who was inspired by another of my favourites, Peter Paul Rubens. I love Caravaggio.

In terms of putting my finger on a favourite art movement, I would have to put on Dada on a pedestal due to it being the most blatantly antibourgeois, antirational, anarchic and playful.

And just because I can, in direct contrast to Dada, I love The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood of the late 1840s and the fact that they preferred the works of the masters of the early Renaissance and their name is a direct reference to liking the works of Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and Perugino over those of the High Renaissance artists Raphael and Michalangelo. Like all the other movements, The Pre-Raphaelites defined themselves as a reform-movement, creating a distinct name for their form of art. They also published a periodical, The Germ, to promote their ideas. I think I love the PRBs because their paintings are so beautiful and have so deeply entwined with poetry and literature, including The Bible.

I also adore the Nabis.

Ithaca by Constantine P Cavafy

When you set out for Ithaka
ask that your way be long,
full of adventure, full of instruction.
The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
angry Poseidon – do not fear them:
such as these you will never find
as long as your thought is lofty, as long as a rare
emotion touch your spirit and your body.
The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
angry Poseidon – you will not meet them
unless you carry them in your soul,
unless your soul raise them up before you.

Ask that your way be long.
At many a Summer dawn to enter
with what gratitude, what joy -
ports seen for the first time;
to stop at Phoenician trading centres,
and to buy good merchandise,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensuous perfumes of every kind,
sensuous perfumes as lavishly as you can;
to visit many Egyptian cities,
to gather stores of knowledge from the learned.Have Ithaka always in your mind.
Your arrival there is what you are destined for.
But don’t in the least hurry the journey.
Better it last for years,
so that when you reach the island you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to give you wealth.
Ithaka gave you a splendid journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She hasn’t anything else to give you. And if you find her poor, Ithaka hasn’t deceived you.
So wise you have become, of such experience,
that already you’ll have understood what these Ithakas mean.