Wall Paper c. 1937

George Robin’s ‘Wall Paper’ presents a small, intimate composition rendered with delicate precision. You can almost imagine Robin hunched over a table, meticulously applying each tiny floral motif with a fine brush. It’s funny, isn’t it? To think of wallpaper as art, but why not? I bet he was thinking about the walls of ordinary houses and how a repeated pattern could transform a room, bring a bit of nature indoors. I'm also thinking of Agnes Martin; the quiet, meditative repetition of forms, like a mantra. There is an amazing quality about the work’s surface—the gentle yellow ochre and the pale cream background create a serene, almost ethereal effect. Painters are always looking at each other's work, borrowing ideas, riffing on themes. It’s like a big, ongoing conversation across time. When we look at a painting, we’re not just seeing a finished product, but entering into that conversation, too. We are free to imagine what the artist might have been thinking, feeling, or hoping to achieve.