Red Garden - Patrick Heron

A 1986 screenprint by Patrick Heron, featuring rhythmic, abstract marks in dark tones set against a bold red field.

Patrick Heron, a central figure in the St Ives School, produced this screenprint in 1986. The work demonstrates his preoccupation with the interaction of colour and form, a pursuit that occupied his practice for several decades. Unlike his earlier figurative works, this composition relies on the rhythmic placement of dark, gestural marks against a field of saturated red.

The composition is constructed through a series of vertical and horizontal strokes. These shapes do not represent physical objects in a traditional sense, but rather suggest the energy and light of a garden through pure abstraction. Heron often spoke of the way colour could create space on a flat surface, and here, the dark forms appear to hover or recede against the red ground. The edges of the shapes are soft, indicating the screenprinting process, which allows for a layered, tactile quality.

Heron was deeply influenced by the light of Cornwall, where he lived and worked for much of his career. This piece reflects his interest in the optical effects of colour, where the contrast between the dark, almost black, marks and the warm, earthy red creates a sense of movement. The arrangement of these marks is balanced, avoiding a singular centre of interest and instead encouraging the eye to travel across the entire surface. This approach to painting and printmaking was a hallmark of his later career, where he moved away from representational imagery to focus on the physical properties of paint and ink. The work is a clear example of his mature style, where the relationship between colour, shape, and space is the primary subject.