You can almost smell the ocean breeze in Beatriz Milhazes’s captivating abstract paintings burst with intense colour and bold geometric patterns. The Brazilian artist’s inspiration for both of these elements is found in her hometown Rio de Janiero: the luscious tropical scenes of the Tijuca rainforest, just a stone’s throw from the artist’s studio; the bustling promenade along the city’s beaches; Baroque and architecture, Catholic iconography – all part of the rich and complex fabric of her homeland’s culture.

Milhazes refers to her style as “chromatic free geometry.” Her large-scale canvases were an important part of a Brazilian movement known as Geração 80, who pushed towards a visceral kind of abstract painting, a sharp move away from the heavily conceptual language of artists who defined Brazil’s art scene in the 1970s. In that exciting milieu, Milhazes brought the approach of collage to painting, and by the end of the 1980s she had come up with her signature ‘monotransfer’ method, painting her own motifs onto plastic sheets that are then transposed onto the canvas.

The resulting multi-layered canvases often stretch to several metres in size – the metallic and fluorescent pigments and illusory patterns seem to vibrate and have a magnetic force. It’s no wonder Milhazes has become such a sought-after figure, with a four-decade survey currently underway at Tate St Ives, until 29 September 2024. Overlooking the same ocean that Milhazes is inspired by, it’s a perfect setting for paintings that are the quintessence of the feeling of freedom and summer.

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