The 1950s marked a seminal period for Patrick Heron. Following his marriage to wife Delia, the couple relocated to St Ives in 1956. Already an area much loved by the artist, their move provided a primary source of inspiration for Heron’s colourful interior scenes. The bright coastal light entering his home and studio inspired the artist greatly, and, in an attempt to capture the shapes and shadows he observed, ventured further into abstraction. From this point, Heron can be seen to remove the ‘interior’ from his painting entirely and focus purely on the interaction of colour, form and space.

April V 1973 demonstrates Heron’s talent for understanding colour relationships and composition. Here, Heron combines multiple tones of blue together, using both soft and hard-edged forms. In turn, each shape is presented to the viewer with a different feeling and sensation, its strength impacted by whichever colour has been placed next to it. In this work, while the various deep blues calmly combine, a contrasting flash of red and orange intensify the space.