La Traviata - 'do You All Here Know This Woman?' 1910

Byam Shaw made this painting of a tense scene in an interior, probably with oil on canvas. It is full of drama and a wonderful sense of theater. The painting’s surface is so full of detail – look at those playing cards scattered all over the floor! I imagine the artist had the time of his life rendering the folds of the woman’s huge dress. I wonder if he worked from life or from photos? Or perhaps he just enjoyed the feeling of losing himself in the story, one brushstroke at a time. The man on the left is really going for it with his dramatic gesture. I bet Shaw saw himself in that figure: he, too, was putting on a performance, creating a world from scratch on the canvas. It reminds me a bit of the Pre-Raphaelites, who also loved a good story and a good costume. Painting is like a conversation across time, with artists borrowing and riffing off one another's ideas, again and again. There is such a generosity in this way of working.