? The Artist's Estate/Tate London, 2004
The Joy of the Worlds
1937
This work was painted in Totnes, Devon, where the artist moved in the autumn of 1936. Collins was influenced by scientific and biological developments, such as recent advances in the illustration of cells and by astronomical photographs. Among the biomorphic forms in the painting stands a man with a staff and halo. He appears elsewhere in Collins's work as 'The Pilgrim.' The surrounding form can therefore be seen as a protective womb for this new image of man. The use of green is unusual in Collins's work at this time.
