Graham Sutherland, O.M. (1903-1980)

The present work is a study for the larger oil Palm and House, which was sold at Christie’s, London (6 November 1998, lot 122). Sutherland visited the South of France for the first time in April 1947. Here he was struck by the hot Mediterranean colours, the sumptuous vegetation and fantastic rock formations, with the vine pergodas and palm palisades particularly capturing his imagination. During this period he undertook a series of paintings incorporating these images, intermixed with the effects of the destruction he had witnessed as an Official War Artist.