Girl in Field (oil on card)

The striking blues and yellows of this boldly painted, experimental work suggest that Fergusson may have been impressed by the work of Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), whose paintings were shown in Paris during his early visits. Van Gogh used extreme colour contrasts to convey his emotions in his works. The expressive quality of Van Gogh's colour and energetic brushwork made his work of great interest to Fergusson's contemporaries, the Fauves. Fergusson's later response to their dynamic style is heralded here by the exraordinarily free and daring use of colour. On his death in 1961 Fergusson left the largest collection of his works in existence to his partner, Margaret Morris (1891-1980). In 1963 she established the JD Fergusson Art Foundation, who subsequently gifted the entire collection, archive and copyright to Perth and Kinross District Council in November 1991.