Neptune Pool by Eleanor Purseglove

Size (cm): 70 x 70
oil on board
This is a painting of the Neptune Pool in Hearst Castle, California. It is taken from an image in a book called Dream Palaces that I found in a community centre in Melbourne.

Swathes of blue saturate and obscure the surrounding landscape. Neoclassical statues emerge like ghosts from the abstract brush strokes and congregate around the pool.

I am interested in the spaces that we escape to in search of an idealised leisure experience. As curated or perfected versions of nature, the swimming pools and gardens of my paintings explore the aesthetic delights of these spaces alongside their contradictions, tensions and disappointments.