Maria Helena Vieira da Silva

The Tiled Room was a breakthrough work for da Silva. Her paintings often resemble mazes or cities seen from above. The web of lines here suggests what one critic called her ‘absorption in space’. The lines of colourful squares have been connected to her experience of feverish imaginings when she had jaundice. She was also haunted by memories of her lonely childhood. After her father died, her mother withdrew into mourning. The unsettling space she creates here could relate to these experiences.