Raining colour

Azalea Garden

1956

Patrick Heron

It has been suggested that Claude Monet never wanted people to stand at a distance from his huge water lily paintings. Instead, he wanted them to come close and be immersed by the painting and the evocation of flowers.

You could imagine that this is what is going on here. Patrick Heron has presented us with the experience of being among azaleas when they are in full bloom.

Anyone who has been to the Isabella Plantation in Richmond park knows the sensation of being swamped by colour; of feeling almost drunk with the exuberence of vivid tones and textures. This is what we have here.

And yet, I found this painting quite beautiful long before I knew its subject. It's as though the artist has shown us colour streaming down in the rain.

A vaseful of beauty

Still Life

1663

Maria van Oosteryck

During the Seventeenth Century there was a great fashion for still life paintings, most notably of flower arrangements. Maria van Oosteryck was greatly acclaimed at the time, and her works were much sought after. This is all the more remarkable since women were still generally excluded from the world of art, except as models. Flower painting was one of a handful of genres considered suitable for women. Even so, Oosteryck was considered ahead of the whole field, male and female.

One of the features of these paintings which was so popular was their grouping together of flowers of different seasons. It would have been quite impossible to have an actual vase of flowers like this in one's house.

Part of Oosteryck's charm is her jewel-like colouring. She achieves this both with her use of oils and her use of chiaro scuro which northern artists had learned from their Italian counterparts. The dark background and the shadows throw the colours forward to us.

Never abandonned by joy.

The Triumph of Music

Marc Chagall

1966

This delightful painting is a preparatory sketch for a huge mural created in the Metropolitan Opera, New York.

Marc Chagall was born to a Jewish family in Russia and later moved to France. In his early years, he was immersed in the folk and religious music of the Jewish community, and music often features in his work - especially violins!

Whenever I find myself in front of Chagall's paintings (or stained glass, or murals) I imagine I can feel his sheer exuberance for life. The vividness of his colours and the swirls of movement he achieves seem to burst out of the frame. There is a great sense of joy in the people (and often animals) he includes.

Not everything in Chagall's life was rosy, but through his art he demonstrates that joy is always there. An artist for rainy days, and sunny days too.