The World in a Drop of Water

Gordon Onslow-Ford
The World in a Drop of Water
Parles paint on canvas, 1959
53 1/2 x 40 inches
Gift of David and Jeanne Carlson
1991.101

Gordon Onslow-Ford felt that he had discovered the root of all art, a truly spontaneous way of painting in which the Higher Mind could act directly through the painter’s hand. The title of The World in a Drop of Water alludes to William Blake’s poem “Auguries of Innocence”: “To see a World in a grain of sand,/ And Heaven in a wild flower,/ Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,/ And Eternity in an hour…”