Bed time 1922

Grace Cossington Smith made this intimate painting called ‘Bed time’ with oil on canvas. It’s a room bathed in warm hues, where pink and lavender shadows meet ochre and brown tones. I can almost see Smith daubing at the canvas, trying to capture the light filtering through a window, illuminating the scene in soft, diffused light. There’s a real feeling of intimacy here, like we’re peeking into a private, personal world. I wonder if Smith was thinking about Bonnard, and the intimist painters, when she made this? How light can transform a space, turning the mundane into something magical. She shares their quiet intensity. Look at that smear of yellow on the rumpled bedding; it suggests not just light, but the warmth and comfort of a lived-in space. Smith understood that painting isn’t just about representation, it's about evoking a feeling, a mood. And like all great painters, she does so with such sensitivity and grace.