Returning from a visit to New York in 1979, William Crozier had a rush of creative energy. Newly confident in his European identity and inspired by art of the past, he produced a cycle of still life work. This art is by turns mesmeric and effulgent, pulsing with the memory of both Chardin and Picasso. It was a transformative moment for Crozier, marking the transition from the earlier angst-ridden work to his mature style of colourful, tightly woven designs.

To Crozier, a vase of flowers was loaded with possibilities. The juxtaposition of two bouquets could suggest a psychological conflict, while a dramatic treatment of light could raise them to the pitch of the greatest history painting. These still life paintings also draw upon Crozier’s developed sense of mortality. The subject of flowers helped to illuminate the time-worn idea of vanitas and Crozier was fond of quoting Robert Burns, who wrote, 'But pleasures are like poppies spread, you seize the flow’r, its bloom is shed.'