Patrick Heron was a major figure in post-war British painting and one of the key voices of the St Ives art movement. Born in Leeds, he grew up in Cornwall, where the landscape and light became lasting influences on his work.
He studied briefly at the Slade School of Fine Art in London before the war, later working as a designer for Cresta Silks, where his use of strong colour and pattern reflected his emerging modernist style.
By the 1950s, Heron had turned fully to painting, developing an abstract language inspired by Matisse and Bonnard. His work focused on the relationships between colour, shape and space, moving from loosely painted interiors and still lifes to large-scale, purely abstract canvases.
Based for most of his life at Eagles Nest near Zennor, he was closely associated with artists such as Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and Peter Lanyon. Heron also wrote widely on art, contributing as both a critic and advocate for modernism in Britain.
His paintings are held in major public collections including Tate, the Arts Council Collection and the British Council.
