Wilhelmina Barns-Graham’s paintings respond to geological formations and the natural environment, from seaside rocks to glaciers. Glacier Chasm was painted following the artist’s visit to the Grindelwald glaciers in Switzerland in 1949. In 1965 she wrote of the glaciers: 'This likeness to glass and transparency combined with solid rough ridges made me wish to combine in a work all angles at once, from above, through and all around, as a bird flies, a total experience.'