Cultured Calm: Garden Path in Spring by Duncan Grant

Garden Path in Spring (1944)

Oil paint on Canvas

I continue my monthly series on  seasonal paintings available to view in London galleries with this spring scene by Duncan Grant.

This beautiful garden bursting in spring blossom is the garden at Charleston Farmhouse in the Sussex Countryside.  It is the house that Duncan Grant shared with the painter Vanessa Bell. It was a regular meeting place for members of The Bloomsbury Group.  Both the house and garden provided much creative inspiration for Duncan Grant and many of his artworks are of the flowers and the interior of the house.

The garden was a haven from the political turmoil and war, and Grant and Bell dedicated many hours into making it a colourful and tranquil place to be.  The packed planting and the peaceful colours featured in the painting are a true representation of the garden.  Painted at a time when the second world war was still raging it seems significant that this painting is filled with joy and the hope which comes with spring and the flowers and blossom, all bursting into bloom after their long winter sleep.

This is a painting which makes me happy.  It want to walk beneath that blossom in the dappled sunlight feeling the warmth and enjoying the scents of spring.