Kaye Donachie’s modest-size figurative paintings primarily refer to literature, biography and archival imagery, with a strong interest in early 20th century avant-garde women who contributed to art and culture, but remain marginalised figures in history. For the artist these women have a clear sense of identity, represented through their writing and art and as muses.

Donachie’s dreamlike paintings re-imagine modernist female protagonists, transcending their fierce ambition and dreams into the present. The artist does not aim to represent a realistic portrait, but rather aims to capture an emotive atmosphere through a considered use of colour, light and figural gesture, merging reality, unconscious and fiction.

Monotonous Remorse was made in response to the writings and poems of Iris Tree (1897 – 1968), an English Avant-garde poet, actress and muse to the Bloomsbury group. The soft and hazy profile portrait of Tree who seems to be gazing in contemplative daydream, is painted in delicate shades of grey, blue and green, a colour palette that is distinct to Kaye Donachie.

Pallant House Gallery has an important collection of Modern British art and recently staged Radical Woman: Jessica Dismorr and her Contemporaries (2019/20), an exhibition telling the story of a group of early-20th-century female artists in Britain who engaged in progressive art, literature and politics.