Category Archives: COLOUR SERIES

Colour was a vital component for the legendary Abstract Expressionist Helen Frankenthaler, allowing her to express deeply felt moods, emotions and memories with a rich and evocative language. Ambient greys tinged with lilac, like FALCON GRAY Linen, were a recurring favourite, which she would dilute into watery liquids and pour liberally onto her canvases so…

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema was a dreamy romanticist, painting idealised historical scenes set amongst the marble pillars and iridescent light of ancient Greece. Cool shades of aqua blue like BLUE BAYOU Linen brought crisp, fresh lightness into his scenes, particularly when combined with the glossy marble architecture of the ancient world. In amongst these tranquil and…

FROST GRAY’s steely metallic shade became cold light in Russian master Valentin Serov’s stirring portraits, illuminating the space around his sitters with the frosty air of Russia. Leader in the Russian Impressionist movement, pale exterior light was a vital component in Serov’s art, breaking through unseen windows to colour the interior walls, furniture and clothes…

19th century painter Alexei Savrasov portrayed stunning, Romanticised visions of the Russian landscape, capturing the sparkling freshness and icy air of winter when everything was obscured by layers and layers of snow. Sensitively attuned to the natural world at this time of year, he carefully observed how subtle shades of bluish grey like that of…

A fresh, cold breeze seems to bristle through Russian painter Natalia Goncharova’s paintings, created through sharp, biting and invigorating colours like that of FEATHER Linen. Leader in the Russian 20th century avant-garde, Goncharova was wildly inventive and prolific, working across a huge range of styles, techniques and mediums to produce some of the most important…

SILVER Linen’s quiet, blue-grey mirrors the softly diffused light of Claude Monet’s snow scenes, where land and sky are muffled by enormous puffs of cloud and snow. Subtle blue shadows fall across heaps of white snow and bristle through freezing tree branches or suggest rising storm clouds in the distant horizon, but they are a…

ASH Linen’s cool, quiet tone became areas of peaceful respite in Edouard Vuillard’s intimate interiors, drenching private spaces in a mysterious and enigmatic light. Leader in the Parisian Intimiste movement of the early 20th century, Vuillard’s paintings focussed almost exclusively on private indoor spaces, painted with soothing colours to convey a quality of quiet isolation…

LUNAR ROCK linen’s shimmering grey often appeared in American Impressionist Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones’ lively scenes, casting pockets of warm shadow amidst areas of colour and light. One of America’s most celebrated turn-of-the-century painters, Sparhawk-Jones portrayed ordinary urban scenes, from shoppers in department stores to children roller-skating and mothers in the park with wide brushstrokes and sparkling…

SAND linen’s full bodied saffron yellow was a favourite with French painter Maurice de Vlaminck, setting his paintings alight with warm, iridescent flames of colour. Central to Vlaminck’s practice was the relationship between colours, which could express riotous outbursts of emotion, with his distinctive shade of mustard yellow playing a top note above the rest. Reflecting…

The earthy ginger of APRICOT linen echoes Pierre Bonnard’s spicy Mediterranean oranges, colours that became a central focus in his flickering, light speckled canvases. Recognised today as a vivid colourist, Bonnard captured the warm light of his native France with intimiste, naturally lit interiors, blooming landscapes and sunlit gardens. An early abstractionist, his paintings reveal…

Fabric in the shade of SPICE Linen became billowing plumes of fire in the hands of Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens, bursting out of the darkness like sparks of light. Leader in the Baroque style, Rubens’ canvases were charged with emotive, sensual energy and movement, as theatrically staged figures are engulfed in epic swathes of…

Albert Bierstadt’s dreamy landscapes convey the unspoilt wilderness of the 19th century American outback, conveying the awe-inducing wonder of sharp cliffs, huge skies and cavernous valleys with soft colours and hazy atmospheric light. Refined shades of bluish-grey like that of ELEPHANT Linen stain distant, craggy mountains and heavily laden storm clouds with quietly brewing drama,…

Fresh, ripe pinks like that of POWER PINK Linen streak across many of Willem De Kooning’s paintings, creating shockingly bright shards of colour amidst his frenetic expressionist visions. Leader in the American Abstract Expressionist school throughout the 1950s and 1960s, De Kooning’s paintings were often based on women, painted with flurried passages of pink in…

HONEY BLOSSOM Linen’s sumptuous pink flutters through Jean-Honore Fragonard’s decadent Rococo scenes, tinting ruffled skirts, diaphanous veils and the blushing cheeks of hopeful young suitors. Nestled amongst cool, watery greens and dusty blues, this colour brings the fresh, peachy glow of spring and summer into his works of art. But it also symbolises the blossoming…

One of the greatest colourists of all time, Pablo Picasso brought radiant yellows like that of EGYPTIAN YELLOW linen into many of his most famous artworks, infusing into them a golden, glowing light. Born in Spain before relocating to France, Picasso remained patriotic to his home country throughout his career, and he would have been…