Description
Rage Rage Against the Dying Sunflower
Oil on Stretched Canvas
76 × 101 cm
R9 000
Rage Rage Against the Dying Sunflower is a tender, unsentimental study of sunflowers past their prime. Three golden heads lean and droop on slender stems, their petals curling and their broad leaves softening and folding, caught at the moment when late-summer glory begins to give way. It is a subject full of feeling, handled with honesty and grace.
Julie Tugwell paints the flowers in warm ochres, amber and burnt orange, their dark centres anchoring the composition, and sets them against a cool, mottled ground of pale blue, grey-green and soft violet. The contrast of warm bloom and cool background gives the work its quiet emotional charge, while flecks of red and yellow scattered through the background keep the surface alive. The brushwork is fluid and expressive, the paint worked wet and loose so that petal and leaf seem to move.
Poignant yet uplifting, this is a larger piece with real emotional depth. It would bring character and a painterly warmth to a living room, dining room or studio, offering a considered focal point that speaks quietly of time, light and the beauty of things in their late season.
Style
Julie Tugwell is a contemporary South African artist whose work shares qualities with expressive, painterly traditions, favouring energetic brushwork and an emotional response to her subject over strict realism. Here she captures the atmosphere and feeling of fading sunflowers rather than a literal likeness, balancing warm ochres against a cool, tonal ground. Working wet and loose in oil, she brings warmth, character and considered sophistication to contemporary interiors, creating an original artwork with genuine emotional presence.
Please note: Images are provided as a guide to the artwork’s size and style. As each original painting is photographed under different lighting conditions and viewed on different screens, colours may vary slightly from the original artwork.
