Saudade No 21 Shireen Kamran

Brushed passages and calligraphic lines in Prussian blue and ochre dissolve into a red ground in this elegant and emotive canvas by Shireen Kamran. Read left to right, the figurative and abstract elements of the painting unfold as narrative the meaning of which may be sensed from the title. "Saudade" translates from Portuguese as "missing" -- saudade is a deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for an absent something or someone.