Pro Hart, died aged 77

[Chantel]

The funeral for outback artist Pro Hart will be held in his hometown of Broken Hill next week.

Pro Hart, or Kevin Charles Hart as he was born, died aged 77 at his far-western NSW home after battling motor neurone disease since late last year.

He had been unable to paint since being diagnosed with the debilitating condition that causes muscle wastage, and his health took a turn for the worse last week.

"It's not something you want to put anybody through but he dealt with it, and was positive, and it's just a sad thing," John Hart told ABC radio.

"We managed to get everybody together and we were all sitting around him when he went, it was a beautiful thing."

John's brother Kym, 42, said his father had not been able to lift a brush since Christmas.

"The appalling thing about this horrible disease was that his mind was sharp as a tack," he told AAP.

"Not being able to move his hands must have been just so frustrating for him."

But he said his father was a "magic bloke" who had a cheeky side.

"He's always been a bloody ratbag," Kym Hart said.

"Throwing things, and crawling through it, he just oozed art - he couldn't help himself.

"He was a magic bloke and painting was his purpose in life."

Born Kevin Charles Hart in Broken Hill on 30th May 1928, his early years were spent on the family sheep property Larloona Station near Menindee.

Nicknamed 'Professor' or 'Pro' because of his passion for inventing things, the legendary Australian artist started painting at school.

"He was seven and drawing people, and life and everything around him and from there everyone else realised he had an amazing talent."

Asked to explain his father's popularity, Kym said: "He painted Australians in their own environment, doing their own things."

Raised in Broken Hill, Pro went on to bring up his family and build an art gallery there.

"We would go to exhibitions all over the world - to Paris, London, New York - and dad just wanted to come home," Kym Hart said.

The Mayor of Broken Hill, Ron Page, said the town loved him as much as he loved it.

"He was a fantastic person, if you went to see him one-on-one, he would talk to you all day," Mr Page told ABC radio.

"Everyone will have a story to tell - how kind, how generous, and what a fantastic person Pro was.

"He loved our city and we loved him."

John Hart said the funeral would be held in his father's beloved hometown next Tuesday.

Mr Hart's legacy to his country will be his paintings and his "clear love" for rural Australia, painter Ken Done says.

Done said Pro Hart was an eccentric, who owned a Rolls-Royce with ants and dragonflies painted on it.

"He was a remarkable bloke," Done told the Seven Network.

Having visited Pro Hart's shed studio in Broken Hill, Done said the brushman of the bush also produced striking works inspired by the years he spent underground.

"I probably saw a lot of pictures that maybe the general public have not seen," he said.

"There were a lot of terrific pictures of his time as a miner.

"He's probably best known for his picture of the outback and there is no doubt about it, you say Fred Williams, Sidney Nolan and Pro Hart, they all put in the Australian conscience various images of that kind of countryside.

"But I think his strongest pictures were the ones he did about his time underground - those tougher times, tougher men - and he brought a real sensitivity to that experience."

Done said Pro Hart's "legacy is his paintings".

"His legacy will be his clear love of that kind of countryside.

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