‘He could not expel the trauma’: Sidney Nolan’s Auschwitz paintings revealed in landmark show

‘An outpouring of works over a matter of days’: The Untold Story of Nolan’s Auschwitz is on show at the Sydney Jewish Museum until 23 October. Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The Guardian

A previously unknown and dark chapter in the life and work of Sidney Nolan is in the spotlight, with the unveiling of early paintings documenting the horrors of Nazi Germany – which the Australian artist never wished to be shown in his lifetime.

The obscenity of Nazi Germany’s concentration camps haunted the artist for more than two decades, throwing him into a personal crisis that left him seriously questioning the role art should play, if any, in the face of a total absence of humanity.