Portrait of Isolation - Café

I spoke to “Ian” for a long time on the phone quite early on in lockdown. He talked about missing his favourite café and missing being around people.

He also mentioned liking paintings he liked by the impressionist painters.

I spent some time looking at paintings by Monet and Renoir and the idea that struck me was how different some of those pictures might have looked if the people in them were “social distancing”. I decided to create a painting that portrayed this.

It is based on one of Renoir’s called the Luncheon of the Boating Party.

My version shows the scene with just a few people, maybe sad, but I think they are at peace with the situation, and optimistic of better times to come.