Ceri RIchards

Ceri Richards was born in Dunvant, near Swansea. He attended a summer school where he became interested in modern art. His work gradually moved towards surrealism after exposure to the work of Picasso and Kandinsky.
The  picture below was made during the second World War so it refers back to Mussolini's invasion of Abyssina in 1935. Ceri has painted flowers to represent the bombings and explostions. He has also painted aggressive plants to represent the aeroplanes. Richards commented "These paintings, obscurely maybe, make flowers into explosions or vice versa, aeroplanes look like aggressive plants, and an incendiary sun rises over the landscape". Instead of just copying a photo etc, he has used his imagination to expand what is going on around him and use a range of different colours so it doesnt look as depressing.