After many months of being apart, these vibrant paintings celebrate togetherness. The following four paintings by three artists show the joy and delight of being together, under blue skies and in blue waters, doing things we cannot do today. Children play and adults mingle while their laughter and smiles remind us of the importance of social contact. These works all record happy times past and the uplifting scenes offer hope of making new memories in the future.

The spontaneous joy of movement links these contemporary artworks, happy moments frozen in time. Whether children playing or adults dancing, single people or groups, all five of the following subjects depict smiling faces or animated limbs, their dynamic lines reflecting the innocent pleasure of physical movement. Bright light, complementary colours, and the occasional animal reinforce the feelings of freedom in a natural outdoor setting. Strong foreground figures, caught mid-movement, provide compositional focus.

The link between the art works in this group is ‘movement’ in its many forms. We experience in the first painting the movement from outside to inside space. In the second, fourth and fifth art works we share the physicality of movement. The third art work provides the serenity of movement from war to peace.

Movement is a fundamentally human and joyful experience and these art works exhibit the intensity, contentment and ultimate ecstasy of movement.

A diverse range of images which use the features of light and colour in different genres and media to celebrate human endeavours and achievements. The following four artworks draw attention to and reflect different female life experiences. They are united through a sense of positivity, reflection and strength.