Come Live With Me 1950

Tom Lovell made this painting without a specific date, using oil on what I imagine was a pretty standard canvas. What strikes me here is the way the light seems to have a solid, physical presence. The colours are muted, as if seen through a gauze, but that makes the sharp detail of the quilt more vivid. It contrasts with the softer, dreamier treatment of the figures. Look at the way the pink and white squares catch the light – the textures and tones are so meticulously rendered it’s almost like a study in light itself. There’s a tension, too, in the composition, between the domesticity of the quilt and the slightly ominous figure of the man at the door. This painting reminds me of Edward Hopper, but with a warmer palette and a more open-ended narrative. It’s a testament to how much can be conveyed, not by telling a story, but by creating a mood.