Anne 1964

John Bratby made this painting, Anne, using very thick paint that he applied in short strokes. It’s a portrait, but you wouldn’t call it flattering! It looks like he’s really been digging into the paint, wrestling with it. I can imagine him thinking about the way the colours sit next to each other, how the light catches on the surface. Look at the way he’s painted the face, like a mask of mottled colour. It’s pretty unsettling, right? But it's also kind of brave, like he's not afraid to show the darker side of things. I see a conversation with artists like Van Gogh, who weren’t afraid to be raw and honest. Painting is about feeling your way through, and it's never really finished. It's an ongoing dialogue with yourself and with other artists, a way of trying to make sense of things, even when they don't quite add up.