The way they saw it Band’s collaborative effort reflects a world on the brink of tumultuous change

Images of a Woman is a painting created in a period of flux. The year 1966 is significant for the Beatles in several ways: creatively they were on a high, and when the painting was made they had just recorded Revolver, seen by many as their greatest album, as the seeds of psychedelic experimentation and Eastern influences dovetailed perfectly with the observational heft on tracks such as Eleanor Rigby. But the Fab Four were also on the back foot, with John Lennon’s remarks that they were probably “more popular than Jesus” creating a backlash in the US and elsewhere. It is irresistible to think that Images of a Woman was the result of finding solitude, away from the attentions of the media. The work also reflects a world on the brink of change. The Beatles had caught sight of the new permissiveness early, which is why the mind-bending elements of Revolver stand out in a year when pop (in the UK at least) was still wedded to the strong melodic lines and conventionality of earlier in the decade. In a way, the painting – with its trippy swirls – is a companion piece to Revolver, but arguably the bursts of colour look forward to the following year – to Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, with its technicolour cover by Peter Blake, and to the burgeoning sound of San Francisco. It’s also worth mentioning that British television began transmitting in colour then, too. But is it any good? At the bottom is Ringo’s cartoonish doodling; in the top left, John’s Latin-tinged cornucopia with shades of Frida Kahlo. Images of a Woman is not a bold work of erudition – it’s too enigmatic for that. But as a snapshot of four people at the height of their creativity, it’s fascinating.