This recently re-discovered painting has not been seen in public since 1974 and is only recorded with a black and white image in Pat Read’s catalogue raisonnée. It was likely painted in Spain, or on Nicholson’s return from Spain, that year and clearly shows in the opaque colour palette and dry, yet animated paint-application the influence of the Mediterranean sun and topography of Malaga (see ‘The Castle’ by William Nicholson we have for sale on our website which has a remarkably similar colour palette of soft greens and dusty creams).

Nicholson first visited Spain in 1933, returning in Christmas 1934 at the invitation of the zoologist Sir Peter Chalmers Mitchell, who had a house in the hills outside Malaga. He was given a space in the house in which to paint and he approached the trip as a working holiday, going out into the countryside to make drawings in pencil and coloured chalks and producing oil sketches from direct observation. He came back to England in late January 1935, only to return to Spain to stay with Sir Peter again a few months later in May. It was during this visit that he met and fell in love with the novelist Marguerite Steen, who was also staying as a guest at the house. They quickly became a couple and remained together for the rest of Nicholson’s life, with Steen later writing his biography in 1943. This work was included (ex catalogue) in the Leicester Galleries exhibition along with many other works from Nicholson’s visit to Malaga. Following these trips, Nicholson’s output increased, but more importantly, he was producing some of his best works. His biographer, Sanford Schwartz, describes how ‘from that May meeting 1935 to some time in the early 1940s…Nicholson was on the streak of his life’.

Nicholson had always been interested by the complexities of light and the theme of still life provided him with endless opportunities to capture the fleeting effects of natural light. The lilac poppies and green leaves dominate the upper half of the work, cascading out of the simple globular-shaped glass vase. Here, Nicholson demonstrates his mastery at layering tones and contrasting shapes to create an intricate interplay of forms and surface textures: the spikey leaves are juxtaposed with the soft creamy petals of the poppies whilst the deep rich lilac of a poppy in full bloom dominates the centre of the work.

Yet, Nicholson’s real interest is in the loosely folded white paper on which the glass vase rests and with great virtuosity he shows the strength of the Mediterranean sunlight as it catches on the paper and reflects with a startling intensity into the viewer’s sight. The force of this light is contrasted with the varied shadows that the leaves and flower-heads cast from above all set against the dusty terracotta background. Meanwhile the translucent qualities of the glass vase create further complex reflections and refractions with the light not only catching the outer curves of the glass but also refracting to show the still life within. All this is rendered through simple, loosely applied brush-strokes and a dry palette of soft, opaque tones.

This evocative work, characteristic of Nicholson’s mature style, demonstrates his mastery of the still-life theme by this date. Nicholson successfully and dynamically presents one of his favourite subjects in a light and fresh manner, demonstrating the supreme ability with which he effortlessly and confidently catches the subtle effects of light and shadow. As Lilian Browse wrote of Nicholson’s Still Life paintings from this period, ‘Gone were the academic arrangements against black backgrounds; the laboured and over-filled compositions in which Nicholson’s whimsical taste for fascinating bric-a-brac sometimes overruled his painter’s eye. In their place came the most delightful flower pictures ever painted by an English artist’ (Lillian Browse, ‘William Nicholson’, 1956, p.24).