Some paintings find the artists symbiotically merging with the natural world. BED-WETTING and CURL feature their disembodied eyes, noses, and mouths emerging ghost-like from layers of leaves to gaze piercingly at the viewer.

Common to all the works is the motif of blossoming in nature—a joyful event further emphasized by the bright colors. Yet a closer look reveals that the flowers have faded; leaves glow in autumnal hues or lie withered on the ground; fruits have dried; the duo’s poses exude exhaustion and fatigue.

The sepia hues and references to the natural world even bear a resemblance to the large scale, multi-part ‘charcoal-on-paper sculptures’ from the very early 1970s, notable for their somewhat pastoral setting, before they returned to the city as their subject.

Autumnal scenes of nature can be interpreted as a metaphor for the autumn of life, an eternal cycle of passing and reawakening. The paintings also allude to the process of aging, to the confrontation with one’s own transience—a theme all the more omnipresent and palpable in the wake of a deadly global pandemic.

Completed in 2019, Gilbert & George’s studies of the relationship between humans and nature take on new relevance and significance in the current context. The artists present a vision of paradise that is ultimately transcendental—a representation of how we might situate ourselves in the modern world, but also how we can change for the better.