Still Life
- Artist: Patrick Heron
- Date: c. 1948-49
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Museum: The Courtauld Gallery
- Collection record: The Courtauld Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the "Still Life" by Patrick Heron, an early piece from c.1948‑49 that marks his transition from figurative to abstract. The canvas captures a humble oil lamp on a table, positioned just in front of a window that frames a simple room. But Heron turns this ordinary scene into a playground of colour and line. He defines the lamp and its surroundings with heavy black outlines, yet these lines float over the broad swaths of colour that dominate the rest of the composition. The palette is generous—bold reds, greens, blues and yellows—each area laid with a transparency that lets the underlying colour shift as if the light were moving. The result is a dialogue between shape and hue; the black contour might suggest the lamp’s silhouette, yet it also serves as a bold graphic element that breaks from strict representation. Heron’s exuberant use of line and colour makes the scene feel almost detached from the reality of a table and lamp, hinting at his future fully abstract canvases. By blending the tangible with the abstract, the painting invites viewers to consider how perception can be reshaped by colour, line, and the deliberate removal of traditional boundaries.
See it in person
Still Life hangs in The Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House, London. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
