This still life demonstrates Sutton’s freedom and inventiveness with colour, which he uses to express form. ‘I feel like a wild musician,’ he has commented, ‘running through an orchestra playing any instrument I wish.’

Philip Sutton was born in 1928 and studied under William Coldstream at the Slade School of Fine Art (1948–1953), winning the Summer Composition Prize. He travelled to Spain, France and Italy on scholarships before returning to teach at the Slade. Sutton’s first solo show was held at Roland, Browse & Delbanco in 1956 and he was elected a member of The London Group in the same year. He has travelled extensively, including in Australia and Fiji, which resulted in a large exhibition of tropical landscapes. A further trip to Australia inspired a number of large paintings of the Great Barrier Reef, which were exhibited at the Royal Academy, where he was elected a Member in 1988.