Gates of Heaven (1947) 63.5 by 55.5 cm Just after the war Norman, as a contentious objector, worked on a pig farm in Acton. During this time Norman painted on Sundays. He worked on paper, using mainly pastels. Norman had been in prison and the concentration camps had just been liberated. People queue to enter heaven. Most people enter, but a few who look like prison guards or concentration camp guards are not allowed in.

Valley of the Shadow of Death (1947). 50 by 65.5 cm As with the Gates of Heaven, this was painted while Norman was working as a farm labourer in Acton. The man in the bowler hat was his boss, the farm owner. Norman regarded his as the worst kind of capitalist and an expert in turning pigs into money.

Crucifixion after Cimabue (1973). 50.5 by 66 cm In1966 and 1967 Norman and Anna travelled in Italy and spent a long time camping at Assisi. In the upperChurch of St Francis there is a crucifixion painted by Cimabue. This work was crumbling and faded and it was very hard to make anything out. Norman felt looking at it was somehow communicating with the distant past. This damaged and distorted message from the 13th century.

Leda and the Swan (1974). 51 by 66 cm A classic subject painted by artists from Titian to Michelangelo and the subject for a poem by Yeats.  In Greek mythology the god Zeus turned himself into a swan and seduced the beautiful Leda.

Touch me Not (1982). 55.5 by 55.5 cmThe newly risen Jesus meets Mary Magdalene. There are two figures in this painting. The most obvious is the Mary; of Jesus, dark, bent over and pushing forwards. The image is the same as Norman used in a drawing of The Death of Adam, which showed the departing soul of Adam as a bent over form departing from the right hand side picture. In this, the soul is arriving from the left. The other barely visible and blending into the background of garden and flowers is, I believe, Jesus. Part way between life and Death. Camouflaged by flowers and almost not there.

Chasing Butterflies 56 cm by 56 cm. In the 1980’s Norman and Anna travelled to Provence for the summers. Norman spent his days painting olive trees, vineyards and fields of sunflowers, and thinking of Van Gogh. He also read van Gogh’s letters and was very moved by van Gogh’s description of a dream. How, van Gogh was chasing butterflies through a field of sunflowers when he came upon a Nymph. The result is this painting.

Asrael of the Feast (1992). 43 by 70.5 cm Based on the old testament story, Azrael, the angel of death/retribution stands behind diners at a rich feast. Soldiers stand to the right and left. To me this work has always had something to do with third world poverty, and western overconsumption. It also contains a message about global warming and the damage human greed is doing to the Earth. Azrael represents some inevitable and awful retribution or revenge that must befall our very unfair civilisation.

Expulsion from the Garden of Eden (1997). 71 by 55 cm. The expulsion from the garden was a subject Norman painted many times. There is a very early collage from the 1950’s, an oil painting from 1974 (which is in the library of Lancaster University) and several large watercolours painted in the 1990’s, and many more.

In the bottom left of the painting Adam and Eve can be seen leaving in disgrace. The centre shows a garden full of bright flowers. The flowers all look a little poisonous. On the right the angry god is demanding they leave. 

Firebirds in the Tree of Stars (2004). 65.5 by 36 cm This is a beautiful late watercolour by Norman. ‘During this period a number of monumental watercolours inspired by the strength of his feelings at the horrors of the Bosnian conflict.... Working to within a few months of his death in 2005, these are surely among the greatest of late flowerings in the history of recent British art.’

Nicholas Usherwood