Writing in July 2010, Kossoff described the tree depicted in this painting: ‘A cherry tree in a garden that may have been part of an orchard before the house was built. One large bough was deteriorating and should have been removed. Instead, we decided to support it with stakes. As time passed it seemed as if the stakes had always been there.’ The series to which Cherry Tree, and Tube Train belongs began in 2002. It marks a significant development in Kossoff’s practice, bringing into focus a pastoral theme. He himself wrote that the cherry tree was ‘so different from other subjects that I had been involved with through the years’.

As with all of the artist’s work, however, the painting is still decidedly about London. A tube train streaks past the garden at the left-hand side of the picture. This is an important piece of iconography, tethering the painting to the capital’s urban geography. Other comparable works from the Cherry Tree series include Cherry Tree, with Diesel (2004-05, private collection) and Cherry Tree, and Young Girl (2007-08). Kossoff has further suggested a relationship between the Cherry Tree paintings and contemporaneous portraits of Fidelma, Peggy and John Lessore. ‘Time passed, and paintings of the tree emerged together with the heads and the painting of Peggy and John’. There is indeed a close connection between the palettes of both series, with soft, harmonious groups of green and pink used in both.