‘Riot of colour’: Gillian Ayres show in Devon just the tonic for gloomy times

Sang the Sun in Flight, 2009. Born in London in 1930, Gillian Ayres spent the last 30 years of her life working out of a studio in north Devon. Photograph: © Estate of Gillian Ayres RA CBE

She spoke about indulging in colour, feasting on beauty, feeling a little giddy when drinking in glorious hues and textures – and not searching too deeply for meaning.

So in these gloomy times, a major retrospective of the work of the artist Gillian Ayres in her adopted Devon homeland may be just the job.