The Thames provided Trevelyan with continuous inspiration from the late thirties onwards. Here he captures the bustling spirit of post-war leisure. While the steamer recalls Victorian and Edwardian river outings, its treatment is unmistakably modern. Trevelyan's characteristic flattening of perspective is in full force, as he achieves a compelling balance between abstraction and realism. The saturated blue of the Thames winds through the composition which is dominated by the crowded steamer - a floating mosaic of forms. Pattern and rhythm create a visual and joyful energy to the work.

Trevelyan describes in his memoir, his painting process: I '... load my brushes with unexpected colours, destroy the surface in a sort of ecstasy, and then sober up to extract some sort of order from the chaos that i and Bacchus has created. For painting is not an orderly and logical process, like carpentry, it is a collaboration with the God of Chance which should end always by transcending the artist's expectations.' (Julian Trevelyan, 'Indigo Days', Macgibbon and Kee, London, 1957.