Responding to the Gallery’s historic Collection, Sahara Longe (b.1994) will present a new body of work in a solo one-room display. Inspired by Anthony van Dyck’s dreamlike portrait of Venetia, Lady Digby, on her Deathbed (1633), a tender snapshot of a beloved wife who hovers between waking and eternal sleep, Longe will create a series of new commissions exploring the experience of love and loss, grief and heartbreak, in their myriad forms.

Longe is celebrated for her soft, luminous depictions of figures, which blur the boundary between portraiture and abstraction in intriguing compositions drenched in colour. Trained in Florence, Longe employs traditional oil painting techniques used by historic artists in her works – a foundation on which the artist continues to build through her exploration of Van Dyck’s work at Dulwich Picture Gallery.

The display is curated by Dr Lucy West, Curator, Dulwich Picture Gallery, and is part of the Gallery’s ‘Unlocking Paintings’ series: thought-provoking displays that present new perspectives on the historic Collection.