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Cedric Morris
painted at least six works on his trip to the remote island of St Helena in
1964-5. The present view is framed by three St Helena gumwoods (Commidendrum robustrum), an endemic
species that Morris incorporates here to structure his view, as if looking
through a doorway upon the landscape behind. The valley folds in on itself in
an undulating exchange of colour. A similar view can be seen in a work simply
titled St Helena (1965) (The Minories, Colchester) and is
perhaps an alternate view of the same location as seen from the other side of
the valley. Morris undoubtedly would have been drawn to the various species of
exotic flora that dwell on the remote island.

His
treatment of landscape here is similar to that seen in earlier paintings of his
native Wales such as South Pembrokeshire
Landscape, 1934, and Connemara
Landscape (both previously with Philip Mould & Company), in that the
topography of the terrain is taken as the primary source of inspiration. Here,
Morris is clearly interested in the structures of the rolling hillside caused
by the volcanic activity that gave birth to the island. The meandering stream,
as it falls from the top of the valley into the thicket below, becomes a focal
point of the work and imbues the painting with a sense of movement and rhythm.