No. 37 Edinburgh Trams

Margaret Thomas was a painter who almost always painted indoors, choosing commonplace subjects such as a still life with flowers, and imbuing them with colour and lyricism. This painting is unusual because she has chosen to paint a busy street scene. Thomas’ angle and her depiction of light are hugely evocative of the business of an Edinburgh Street, and her deft draughtsmanship also contains an impressionistic style in her use of colour and quick brushstrokes. She said of her work “I am a lyrical painter. I aim for a down-to-earth poetry and a rejection of all pretentiousness”.