
May Matthews
Managing Director, Scotland
£30,000 - £50,000
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The poem Power Dive by Norman MacCaig was published in the book Fallen Angels, edited by W. Gordon Smith, published by Pavilion Books Limited London, in 1994. This was an anthology of old and new writing, based around the Vettriano's images, 'complementing them, matching their moods, and extending the lives of the characters beyond their frozen moments on canvas'.
Years later when re-visiting the book, Vettriano was inspired by the poem to paint a new series of works using the theme of the swimming pool.
He spent a fortune on architects and builders.
He signed tickertapes of cheques for furniture,
carpets, paintings, filmstar beds. He surrounded the
house with plantations and parterres, hahas and gazebos.
And in the right place, the properest place
at last he saw completed a swimmingpool
that glittered like ancient Rome.
It was just before he hit the water
in his first dive that he glimpsed
that triangular fin cutting the surface.
Norman Alexander MacCaig DLitt FRSE FRSL ARSA OBE (1910–1996)