Being the son of the revered John Olsen has often been intriguing, and sometimes difficult.

Olsen, 92, is arguably Australia’s greatest living artist, and is still painting.

His son, Tim, 58, the author of this fine memoir, runs one of Australia’s leading art galleries in Woollahra, Sydney.

In Son of the Brush (a play on the laconic expression ‘son of a gun’), Tim Olsen brilliantly encapsulates the contours of what now seems to be his ultimately fortunate life – its triumphs, its failures, its tragedies and its joys – including the pleasures and pitfalls of having a hugely famous father.