This is an early work, painted either while Margaret was at the National Art School or soon after she had graduated. The skull is a heavily laden symbol in art history, indicative of the spiritual, the inevitability of death and the presence of God. Placed beside the bounty of fruit and flowers in Margaret’s painting, we are reminded of our place as part of this earth.

The colours and shapes of the fruit connect the work to Cezanne, his portrait hovering in the background, Margaret’s painting typical of his studies of the still life and the spiritual. With this painting, Margaret is working her way into the art historical as well as pondering the nature of existence, a notion that sustained much of her work.