Page 15 - For the purpose of this essay when I refer to ‘spirit’ ‘devine’ or ‘spirituality’ I am referring

In some way the work touches the viewer, in a way that usually surpasses the physical
or intellectual impact. When viewing the paintings of Peter Doig, I found myself
moved to tears, and knew that his actual subject matter did not produce that strength of
emotion. I did not know why, just that I was.

Painting allows us to go to places we never intended going and to move to dream like
states, without sleeping.

It is a privilege to paint.

Anne Madden – Interview Appendix 2

Madden, A., 2010. Interview Questions. [email] (Personal communication, 09 Mar 2010)

Anne Madden was born in London in 1932 to Irish and Anglo-Chilean parents, she
spent her first years in Chile but was raised in Co. Clare and in London, where she
studied at the Chelsea School of Art. . Between 1970 and 1979 Madden painted a large
series of vertical works entitled Megalith and Openings derived from prehistoric
monuments. The artist has since developed a large body of work including the Pompeii

and Garden series (1980 - 1990); Odyssey and Icarus series (1990 - 2000) and the
Garden of Love series (2001-2003). The artist has held more than 50 solo exhibitions
and her work is held by national museums and modern art collections worldwide. In
2004 she was awarded an honorary degree from University College Dublin. A major
retrospective of her work was held by the Irish museum of Modern Art Dublin in 2007.

For the last few years, Anne Madden has been making paintings about the Northern
Lights, (Fig- 10) which seems to be an appropriately northern subject, now that she has
returned to Ireland after spending many years in the South of France. These paintings
are ambitious in scale, spectacular in their depiction of chromatic contrasts and highly

Fig – 10. Aurora borealis snake of light,( 2006) oil on linen, triptych. Anne Madden.(146cmX26 cm)

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