Grace Cossington Smith completed this luminously effervescent painting at the age of 70, within the bedroom, formerly her parents, in the Cossington house that had been her home for 50 years. This is key to note, because – looking at the hazy, glistening coloring – it feels like she knows every single inch of the room – as if each stroke could evoke a memory.
Look closely at the objects in the room, from the books to the chairs. I can’t help but think about the many times she would have gone over to the bookcase to take out a favourite read, or sat down on those chairs to read one of those books.
The most exciting aspect of this painting is, for me, her use of colour. Full of vibrancy and dynamism, the painting feels almost electric as it bounces off the canvas, blinding us with its fluorescent tones. During her early career Cossington-Smith only really painted in muted, monochromatic tones – a far cry from what we see here.[1]
Her route into colour was seeing paintings by the French Post-impressionists, such as Van Gogh and Paul Cezanne, which she saw on her visit to the UK in 1912. It was here that she became utterly energized by their approach to colour, and ability to capture many different qualities of light. Clearly enthralled by the light of this room, she said (of this painting) that “…it was a very exciting thing to do, the sunlight did not come in in a definite way but the whole room seemed to be full of light which is what I want to do more than the actual sunlight.”
I can’t help but marvel at her light filled apertures, or how she charges the doors and windows with dazzling blues, greens, oranges and yellows - which vibrate in harmony with the painting’s hazy warmth. It’s like her bedroom windows become windows to her soul; connecting the outside world with her most precious private space.
[1] Thomas 1973 p.6 from a tape recorded interview 16 August 1965 with Hazel de Berg, Canberra: National Library of Australia, transcript p.2.
