Jew Chew Honeydew 1962

John Bratby made this painting called 'Jew Chew Honeydew' using oil paint and a fearless approach to colour and texture. The way he applies the paint is so direct, you can almost feel the energy of his hand moving across the canvas. There’s a real physicality to the painting. Look at the textures he’s conjured up – the rough rind of the melon, the shiny skin of the orange, the spiky leaves of the pineapple. It’s all built up with these thick, confident strokes of paint. I'm drawn to the seeds in the melon, how he’s rendered each one with a kind of obsessive, almost frenetic energy. It’s like he’s trying to capture not just what they look like, but what it *feels* like to see them. Bratby reminds me a little of Van Gogh, in the way he uses paint to express something raw and unfiltered. This painting is less about perfect representation and more about capturing the sheer, messy joy of seeing.