Sweet Bowl 1967

Patrick Caulfield’s "Sweet Bowl" is a painting of flat color and bold outlines, probably made with screen printing. It takes the mundane and elevates it, creating a world that's both familiar and strangely artificial. It's like a stage set, waiting for a play that never starts. The bowl itself is a deep, almost electric blue, stark against the lighter blue background. This bowl isn't just a container, it’s a symbol, a monument to the everyday. The simple black line tracing around the edge of the bowl gives it a cartoonish vibe. Inside, the sweets are a riot of color, little gems of red, yellow and purple, but even these are contained by black outlines. The color and the form remind me of early David Hockney prints but without the same overt references to art history. Caulfield wants us to embrace the simplicity of the image as a thing in and of itself.