Banks Peninsula Hills 1933

Rita Angus made this painting of the Banks Peninsula Hills in watercolor, and it feels like a distillation, a kind of essence of landscape. The blues and beiges are laid down in these flat, deliberate shapes, constructing the hills like a puzzle. The paint is thin, almost transparent, giving it an airy, dreamlike quality. The way the light falls, creating these stark divisions between light and shadow, reminds me of stage sets. Look at how each stroke seems carefully placed, building the form with simple, confident gestures. See how the blue outlines define the shapes, giving them a crisp, graphic quality. It's like she's finding the geometry hidden in the natural world. Angus's work has a kind of clarity that reminds me of Agnes Martin, that same sense of quiet contemplation. They both show us how something simple can hold so much depth, inviting us to slow down and really look. It’s a conversation, always, across time and space.