Almost all Bellany’s works in the Flowers gallery date from the 1990s by which time his sensibility had mellowed. His Calvinist rage at social injustice and the religious oppressiveness of his upbringing rarely feature, yet his gusto and spontaneity remained.

With a few exceptions the dourness, the macabre and melodrama of the earlier paintings are replaced by joyful colour and bold sweeping brushwork which convey a zest for life, and for the act of painting itself. But Bellany remained an imaginative, figurative artist and his subjects are never sweetened or idealised. - Christine Lindey

Click here to read the full feature.