Margaret Olley (1923-2011) is "one of Australia’s most significant still-life and interior painters. She drew inspiration from her home and studio and the beauty of the everyday objects she gathered around her. Many of her paintings feature arrangements of fruits and flowers, set amid the pottery, art and exotica of her travels." As one writer put it succinctly: "she chose to paint nice things". Cornflowers were one of her favourite subjects and appear in many of her paintings as in this lovely still life (Cornflowers, 1985).