Dusk

Artist Sir William Gillies (Haddington, Scotland, 1898 - 1973)

Datec. 1959

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationsPaintings And Drawings

DimensionsOverall: Height: 74 cm, Width: 94.4 cm
Frame: Height: 86.6 cm, Width: 106.8 cm

AcquisitionPurchased in 1959 with income from the Macdonald Bequest.

LocationView by Appointment

Object numberABDAG002244

Keywords

About MeLandscape painting was Gillies' major preoccupation and this is one of his most successful landscapes. Through a simplification of forms and sombre, subtle colour he has captured the brief moment just before darkness falls on the landscape. The striped evening sky mirrors the winding river below. Layers of yellow ochre are scumbled over the foreground area to suggest the grassy banks of the river.

Gillies was a prolific artist with a natural gift for capturing the spirit of a place, both in oil and in watercolour. There is a natural poetry to his landscapes of East Lothian with their rolling contours and muted colours enlivened by touches of pink and orange.

More About Me

Collections Wall

Gillies’ use of dark, sombre colours and simple shapes and forms perfectly capture the brief moments of dusk before darkness overwhelms the landscape.

Exhibitions

Sir William Gillies and the Scottish Landscape