Lot Essay
Collins' images of The Fool are amongst the most important of his work - The Fool symbolising, for him, purity of consciousness. His best known work, The Sleeping Fool (1943, Tate Gallery, London) is part of this series. 'The deep and passionate feelings that underlie his portrayal of the Fool were expressed in an essay, The Vision of the Fool, written between 1942 and 1945 and published in 1947' (see W. Anderson, Cecil Collins, London, 1988, p. 57).