Sara Lee Roberts British

In 2025, Sara Lee Roberts completed a residency in France at Giverny, where Monet lived and worked on his Nymphéas series. She was deeply moved by the experience, which is beautifully reflected in her recent work. Though abstract, it contains clear references to Monet’s water-lily pond. In her paintings she has removed any explicit narrative or descriptive elements to avoid distraction from the paint’s uncanny ability to reveal the abstract musicality of interacting form and colour all around. The real subject is light. She points out that light emanates from her work when the colours interact and create a glow. Every colour affects every other colour on the canvas; at any moment during the making, the painting can collapse, losing its coherence. She interweaves shapes and rhythms into her compositions that she observes in historical art, and she is particularly drawn to Watteau’s ethereal light. She finds herself testing the difference between her work and that of the Old Masters. When Sara is at work, she says she must be fully present, attentive, alert, and honest with herself. The vital energy she experiences then is of utmost importance to transmit to the viewer.