Door into the garden 1947

Grace Cossington Smith made this painting, *Door into the garden*, with oil on canvas, sometime in the mid-20th century, though we don’t have an exact date for it. Check out the way she used those small, deliberate brushstrokes. It’s like she's building up the image, one dab at a time. The paint isn't too thick, but you can definitely see how she layered those colors, creating a kind of shimmering effect across the canvas. I’m drawn to how the light hits the tree outside the door. There’s this sense of airiness, like you could just step right into that garden. Smith reminds me a little of Vuillard, actually, both in her subject matter, intimate, interior spaces, and in the soft, diffused way that she handles the paint. Ultimately, this is a work that invites you to slow down, look closely, and find your own way into the garden.