Central Otago

‘Please continue to have patience in completion of this work – square inch covering tons of earth & space, sometimes taking several hours.’ – Rita Angus to Douglas Lilburn, 1954

Rita Angus paints the entire region of Central Otago into this dense canvas, loaded with layers of colour. Colour, scale, and perspective change constantly – from the huge tree on Lake Wānaka, to the craggy red outlines of the Kyeburn Diggings in the lower half of the work.

Angus worked on this oil painting for years and periodically asked for Lilburn to return it. She once wrote, ‘Perhaps the painting may endure for centuries.’