Gillies painted this cubist view of Florence from the pensione he stayed at in the city in 1924. Gillies’ took a photograph from the window and inscribed it with the details (the photograph can be found in the Gillies display case in the exhibition).
The two paintings provide an interesting contrast. The freedom and brightness of the watercolour is evolved in the oil with a more measured approach and sombre palette. In both, buildings and shapes are flattened and simplified, and Gillies has expertly transferred the shifting and shimmering water and sky from one to the other.