Robert Diament

And today we are in the studio of the late Paula Rago, who is somebody that I would describe almost like as a kind of

teacher to me, but also the blueprint for what went on to be my sort of fascination in art and all of the artists that I've bonded with and become friends with over the years.

It always comes back to Paula and to her incredible legacy and body of work.

And we were actually sat in the original studio where from the early 90s, she moved here and it's filled with paintings and drawings and prints and sculptures that she would use as kind of life models, I guess, in a way.

And so many objects and all of the brushes and crayons and pencils.

It's just endless.

And even perfume bottles.

There's all kinds of things here.

It really feels like a space that's been very lived and loved.

And if you know anything about Paula's work,

Every breath was about making art.

And you really get a sense of that in here.

I think she even used to sleep in the room next door to have a break near her library at the time.

And honestly, I'm really emotionally overwhelmed.

And today I am feeling fearless.

Because I think that is a word that is often used when describing Paula Rago.

But when you actually look into it, painting for her gave her a space to be fearless.

But actually, there was a lot of anxiety.

And in recent works that I've seen, even in Freeze London of Victoria Miro last October, there was even depression and kind of a lot of concern for other people's situations around the world during different wars and different times.

And I think right now is such a timely kind of moment when you think of all the chaos going around the world and how aware we are of it.