The Long Table with Fruit 1949

Patrick Heron made this still life, "The Long Table with Fruit," with paint. You can see the way the colors push and pull, like he was trying to find the right balance, the right rhythm. I imagine him stepping back, squinting, maybe tilting his head, trying to capture the essence of the fruit and jugs and foliage on the table. It’s a humble scene, but it feels so alive. Look at how he's rendered the yellow jug with these confident strokes. You sense a real joy in the application of the paint, that particular shade of yellow. There’s this great back-and-forth between flatness and depth; it’s like he’s building up the image piece by piece, a sort of visual puzzle. Heron was part of a generation of British artists who were looking to the continent, to the legacy of Matisse and the Fauves, for inspiration, and finding their own voices. Painting like this is an act of translation – taking what you see and feel and turning it into something new.