Yellow Chair 

John Miller painted this oil on canvas, ‘Yellow Chair’, at an unknown date, showing a humble interior space looking out to the Mediterranean. This work epitomizes the kind of domestic scene that became popular with British artists travelling in southern Europe, especially in the decades after the Second World War. Its artfulness is most evident in the composition: The chair is balanced by the open window, and the strong horizontals of the sea and distant land. This arrangement offers an apparently timeless image of southern life. Yet, the question remains, how does Miller want us to view this scene? Is this an intimate, personal space, or is it intended to be a view for the visitor? As a social historian of art, I always want to know more about the conditions in which such works are made. Researching the artist's biography or the exhibition history of the work would give us a better grasp of its meaning as a cultural object.