Cornucopia, June 1960 (oil on canvas)

Davie is a Scottish painter, poet, musician and silversmith. His influences include jazz and Zen Buddhism. His work features in the collections of Tate and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. A cornucopia, Latin for horn of plenty, is an abundant supply of good things. Colour and pattern collide in this energetic composition. Davie has said: Colour is like a scent. It is indescribable, like a chord struck on a harp in the darkness. The colours must sing together, very much like the notes in music. A mingling of wavelengths in light or in sound. If a work is to be of any value it must convey something which transcends material.