Today they rank among Australia's best-known artists and are also considered leaders of the Angry Penguins, a modernist art movement named after a journal co-published by the Reeds and poet Max Harris.

Since Heide was established, the museum's collection has expanded through many individual gifts, and in keeping with the Reeds' original aim, continues to support young and emerging artists.

The museum is situated on land originally used by indigenous peoples, a history evident in a distinguished scarred tree at the top of the property, called Yingabeal.

In 1934, the farm was purchased by John and Sunday Reed, passionate supporters and collectors of modern Australian art, who named the property Heide after the nearby town of Heidelberg.

Heide became a focal point for progressive art and culture as the Reeds opened their home to like-minded individuals such as artists Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker, Joy Hester, John Perceval and Danila Vassilieff.

Synthesising local and international design ideas, the light-filled home they called Heide II was constructed out of Mount Gambier limestone with a palette of minimal secondary materials and neutral colours.

Now Heide Museum of Modern Art operates as a non-profit company limited by guarantee, and on behalf of the Victorian Government, a Board of Directors is delegated as a Committee of Management.

They immediately set about reviving and extending the productive kitchen garden adjacent to the original farmhouse and initiated a major planting program, with a view to turning the property into a verdant parkland.

The collection includes works by artists such as Moya Dyring, Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker, Joy Hester, Gray Smith, John Perceval, Arthur Boyd, Charles Blackman, Peter Booth, Mike Brown, Richard Larter, Wolfgang Sievers.