Rona Fleming (née Thompson) was born in Christchurch and studied at the Canterbury School of Art. A member of both the Canterbury Society of Arts and the Group, an informal, but influential association of artists including Doris Lusk, Toss Woollaston, Rita Angus, Olivia Spencer Bower, Colin McCahon and Rata Lovell-Smith, she exhibited widely throughout New Zealand, specialising in Canterbury scenes. This sparkling landscape depicts a view of the Southern Alps from the Waimakariri river basin near Cass. The University of Canterbury had a field station at Cass, and it was favourite spot for artists. Fleming’s simplified style captures the chilly beauty of the alpine scene, as the fresh snow on the mountains is reflected in the gleaming water in the foreground.

(Turn, Turn, Turn: A Year in Art, 27 July 2019 – 8 March 2020)

Research for the exhibition Closer (16 December 2017 – 19 August 2018) resulted in the restoration of this work's orginal title. In Dutch 'Begrafenis in den winter op het eiland Marken' and in English 'Burial in the winter on the island of Marken'.

Combining a wintry landscape with an equally bleak portrayal of loss, this painting has captivated many visitors since joining the Gallery’s collection in 1932. Small details, like snow-dusted shoes, noses red with cold, and a woman folded over by grief, are observed with such accuracy and tenderness by Petrus van der Velden that this funeral procession on an isolated Dutch island feels just as real as it looks. However, its most important figure – the reason for the gathering and for all the grief we see – remains unseen. The deceased, said to have been a drowned local fisherman, is present only in the dark shape of the coffin – and in the faces of those left behind.

(Absence, May 2023)