Frances Hodgkins grew up in New Zealand and went on to spend much of her working life in France and England. She is known for her colourful, semi-abstracted landscapes and individual style. While in France, she was influenced by Fauvism – a bold new style of painting led by artists such as Henri Matisse. When she visited the village of Solva in 1936, she described it as "a landscape of steep valleys, speedy rivers and castles looking like their own mountains".