To continue to celebrate Bartholomew’s rich body of work, this August we are releasing a limited edition of just 50 prints of The Whispers. All profits from the sale of this atmospheric and colourful piece, with literary roots, are in aid of Brain Research UK.

This painting was one of the last Bartholomew completed in December 2019, a few weeks before he died.

He was revisiting T.S. Eliot's complex, reflective poem 'Gerontion' which inspired Barley's 2010 work 'Dull Head Among Windy Spaces', and a 2013 painting 'I Have No Ghosts' which depicts an isolated, elderly figure perched on a chair, arms and legs crossed. An antiquated lampshade swings above, illuminating his head and it is echoed by a number of smaller ones receding into the dark.

'Gerontion' depicts the 'thousand small deliberations' of a frail old man, facing the prospect of death, as he struggles to find meaning in his experiences and define his place in the universe.

The bearded figure in The Whispers strikes a much more relaxed pose than that in ‘I Have No Ghosts’. The colourful lampshades swinging a little crazily above him are not threatening at all and, although melancholy, the man fingers a turquoise necklace, a symbol of love.

Bartholomew's fascination with aged characters stands in ironic contrast to both his positive, joyous attitude and his tragically short life.