The Maze

Richard lived near the Solent, that strip of water between the Isle of Wight and the south coast, for nearly 60 years. Many of his pictures are divided into horizontal bands of sky, sea and beach stretching from one side of the picture to the other. Here, those bands appear in the background of this unusual painting from his late work. 

No sea here, but we have the sky and then strips of fields from side to side of the picture. What looks like a straightforward landscape is intersected by the head of a girl and through her, our eyes are directed down to this strange foreground of the maze and the two figures pacing round it in an almost dance-like fashion. Mazes were originally designed for meditation and the odd formality of the movement bears this idea out.