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Patrick Heron was one of the most prominent British abstract painters of the post-war period, particularly celebrated for his use of light and vibrant colour.

Born in 1920 in Leeds, Heron was first exposed to art through his family’s textile business. He started designing silk scarves for his father’s company before going on to study at the Slade School of Fine Art in London from 1937 to 1939.

Heron’s early paintings were semi-abstract, influenced by the French masters Henri Matisse, Pierre Bonnard and Georges Braque. At this stage, his work still included elements of figuration but, by the mid–1950s, Heron had abandoned representation and embraced an entirely abstract language. This transition to a more gestural way of painting and a primary focus on colour was shown in his Garden series through works such as Camellia Garden (sold by Christie's in 2008 for £668,450).

The artist would often juxtapose colours to explore their relationship and bring vibrancy to his paintings. He once said, ‘For a very long time now, I have realised that my overriding interest is colour. Colour is both the subject and the means; the form and the content; the image and the meaning, in my painting today.’

Heron’s interest in this interaction between colours meant he often created sharp boundaries between them, as shown in works such as 3 Reds: 1967. The artist noted of the piece: ‘a jagged line separating two reds will make them cooler or hotter, pinker or more orange, than a smoothly looping or rippling line. The line changes the colour on either side of it.’ Paintings using this style of precise boundaries between areas of colour were referred to as Heron’s ‘wobbly hard-edge' works.

Heron also settled in Cornwall during the time he moved to full abstraction. Here, he became a leading member of the St Ives School — a group of artists which also included sculptor Barbara Hepworth and painter Roger Hilton. These artists were interested in abstraction and influenced by the landscape and light of west Cornwall, with these surroundings inspiring Heron to produce pieces such as Harbour Window with (1950).

Alongside his work as a painter, Heron was also an art critic and wrote essays championing the use of American Abstract Expressionism and Colour Field Painting, as well as the influential book The Changing Forms of Art (1955). He continued to paint prolifically until his death in 1999, with the artist’s works held in numerous collections, including Tate, Arts Council and the National Galleries of Scotland.