Which unsurprisingly, he absolutely relished in, and saw this form of self-isolation as an even greater opportunity to dedicate towards his many artistic endeavours! Spring Cannot be Cancelled” is a joyous and uplifting manifesto that affirms art and nature’s capacity, to not only transform and inspire one isolated artist, living in Normandy’s life, but a whole society as well -especially one that is so presently disconnected from the world around them (shout out again, to that pesky Miss.Rona!)

What is special about these landscapes is precisely that they are his own: long studied and internalised. He knows them deeply, thoroughly, intimately, and gets to see and understand more and more with each hour of attention. Bit by bit, these familiar spots turn out to be microcosms containing all the ingredients a painter could require. I have often said that I can enjoy watching the rain in puddles, which makes me quite rare. I like rain. I have always done pictures of it. I did a print of the rain making the ink run, at the Gemini print studio in 1973. Chase was an American Impressionist and utterly swept up in that era’s mania for all things Japanese. He amassed a huge collection of Japanese clothes and decorative objects, which feature in almost all of the pictures he made between 1882 and 1908, including this one. The flowers are peonies, which bloom from April and are symbols of good fortune. Despite the startling red gown, and the appealing curve of the woman’s body, it is the flowers that dominate. Everything in the painting seems to whirl toward them. Laura Knight, Spring in St John’s Wood (1933)

there was no rhyme or reason to the contents of the book - it told no particular story and didn't seem to have a point or structure. The chapters were just there and didn't seem to add up to anything This book was a disappointment. It was 1) not at all what I was looking for/expecting from this book and 2) not good at what it was. I read the blurb: Wood is best known for his 1930 painting American Gothic, but I much prefer this painting of the wide-open Iowa landscape, part of a pair that he made on the theme of spring in 1941. Wood was deeply inspired by the 19th French Barbizon school of painters, from whom he borrowed the idea of honouring honest agricultural toil. Given it was painted in wartime, it is thought that Wood also intended the work as a means of reigniting the idea of manifest destiny, too.

It would be remiss of me not to include at least one painting of daffodils here, and this is one I like most. Balding is correct that the flower – its wild varieties at least – is ancient: it came to Britain with the Romans (they mistakenly thought its sap had healing properties). By the time Shakespeare was writing The Winter’s Tale (“When daffodils begin to peer...Why, then comes the sweet o’ the year”), the herbalist John Gerard had identified 24 different varieties. Little is known about Balding, but he appears to have been part of the Balding family of printers in Wisbech, near Cambridge. William Merritt Chase, Spring Flowers (1889) There’s no spring without showers, as we know all too well in Britain. This rain-soaked scene, however, was painted in Paris, at the Place de Dublin, near Saint-Lazare train station. I love it for its see-saw, snapshot feel (Caillebotte was one of a number of artists experimenting with photography at that time) and its sense of movement: the fleeting overlap of unconnected lives as strangers pass each other head down, in the rain. Grant Wood, Spring in the Country (1941) and expected this book to be about overcoming hardship - an unexpected and far-reaching tragedy - and finding light and meaning in life through art. Something like The Letters of Vincent van Gogh.

Customer reviews

there's just one passing mention of the epidemic; it plays no role in the events of the book nor in the conversations/musings described We made it. After a bruising winter, it’s officially spring. Few things are more rallying than the season’s pulse and hum, its green blitz and brisk air. It’s amazing how far the sight of a little blossom will go – a little warbling and beeping in the hedges. Like paper aeroplanes of hope from the other side. The moral is this: it is not the place that is intrinsically interesting; it is the person looking at it. Wherever it is, it will part of the world; the laws of time and space will still apply. Then sun will rise and set, and so will the moon. The message, though positive, is a tough one: 'The cause of death is birth'. But the pictures transmit the idea that idea through visual enjoyment or, to use an old-fashioned term, beauty. DH: Well, you think 'Hmm, yes!' You're impressed. You get a bit jealous perhaps. I feel that, even of the etching on the wall behind you - by Leon Kossoff, isn't it? It's very, very good. He was always good, I thought. I liked him a lot.

Warm, intelligent and quietly inspiring... A memoir of love in the time of Covid: of friendship and a shared passion for art... Spring Cannot be Cancelled takes us inside the mind of a major modern artist." The Wall Street Journal The difference between the two books is that where A History of Pictures had a broad scope and encompassed pictures and art making from a wide array of mediums through art history, Spring Cannot be Cancelled is very much concerned with the strange time that was spring 2020.This book is not so much a celebration of spring as a springboard for ideas about art, space, time and light. It is scholarly, thoughtful and provoking' The Times Lavishly illustrated… Gayford is a thoughtfully attentive critic with a capacious frame of reference' Guardian I cannot recommend this book highly enough, it is a beautiful, gentle, and contemplative book that soothes the soul and lifts the spirits. Roger Jones is Emeritus Professor of General Practice, King’s College, London, and the immediate past Editor of the BJGP.

Overall, this is an immensely enjoyable and life-affirming book. And one that I would whole heartedly recommend to fellow artists and art enthusiasts alike! As the book unfurls -much like the cherry blossom he paints, we see just how enamoured and enthusiastic he is by the minutiae of life; the variations of colour, light, space, water and of course, trees! DH: I think that there's a pleasure principle in art. Without it, art wouldn't be there. You can almost drain it away, but it still needs to be there. It's like in the theatre. Entertainment is a minimum requirement, not a maximum. Everything should be entertaining. You might go to higher levels, but you always need to accomplish that at least. The pleasure principle in art can't be denied; but that doesn't mean all art is easy and joyful.That's it, that's the whole bit! After this, they moved on to a different topic. Does this sound interesting or deep? Is it worth reading? Is it worth printing?