THEME

Green

Through the 1980s and into the 1990s towards the end of his life, Richard painted a series of pictures which were filled with green. They are mainly New Forest woodland or garden views, but they are so abstract and atmospheric they make one suspect they are actually about something else too.

One thought is that he wanted the challenge of painting green, a colour he always found difficult to manage. In his brief ‘fauvist’ period in the ‘60s, he had met green full on with no fear in From a Train (1965). Now, in his latter years, the darker greens of his local landscape and garden seem to signify an end of life 'coming home', e.g. Self Portrait with Wife (c.1990).

Perhaps the deaths of close friends and family which he had experienced in recent years brought him to reflect on his own mortality.

 

This page is a sub-set of the Trees|Woods|Forests theme.

28 works in this theme: