Between 1939-46 Nicholson made a series of paintings of farm buildings, with a background of the sea, in which form and colour are simplified.

The artist referred to this as 'nursery realism'. This was a period of reassessment for Nicholson as he turned away from pure white abstract reliefs to more naturalistic, though stylised, landscape paintings.

Ben Nicholson, Cornish Landscape, Angela Verren-Taunt 2005. All rights reserved, DACS.