Teacups: The Harlequin Set 1928

Grace Cossington Smith made this painting of teacups, we don’t know when, but look at the lovely blocks of colour she’s created! I can imagine her carefully building the painting, almost like constructing a little world, bit by bit. The brushstrokes have a rhythm, like a song almost. They remind me of the way Cézanne used colour to build form, but with Smith there’s a playful, almost childlike quality. I can imagine her thinking about all the different colours she could use to describe a simple object like a teacup. And that upturned cup—what does that mean? Maybe it’s about seeing things from a different perspective, or maybe it’s just how the light fell that day. Smith invites us to slow down, to really look and to find the extraordinary in the ordinary. She’s part of a conversation with so many painters, all figuring things out, together.