The Colours in the Courtyard

Red, orange, yellow, cream, beige, white. Made-up colours like ochre, terracotta, fawn.

But mostly orange.

A sign warns people to keep off the grass, although the colours indicate, or rather dictate, that there is no grass.

A tiny rodent, possibly a shrew, scampers across the courtyard. From forty feet away it looks like marble rolling down a hill. The effect is heightened by the fact that the courtyard slopes slightly, although the slope is on the very edge of perception.

In the other direction a wonan pushes a hospital trolley on which another woman lies. All that is visible of this second woman is her face, heavily made-up.

The woman pushing the trolley seems to be expending little or no energy, although she is going slightly uphill. She cuts straight across the courtyard, does not take the path around the edge. She is wearing blue.

She has ruined the illusion of steepness created by the dust-coloured rodent.