Cunningham’s oil paintings were produced over a relatively short period of time, between 1952 and the late 1960s.

Upon enrolling at the Royal College of Art, he started creating forceful yet intimate works on canvas which combine technical mastery with a powerful subject matter. Covered with several layers of granular paint, Cunningham’s works convey an intense, raw presence.

His paintings arrest viewers with their large surfaces, dense with sculptural brushwork and coats of murky colours. Distorted faces and bodies appear out of dark backgrounds, while skulls seem to dissolve into nothingness and shapeless dead animals lie on bloody tables.

In 1955, thanks to a travelling scholarship, he visited Spain and became acquainted with the paintings of masters such as Goya, Velázquez, Jusepe de Ribera, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo and Francisco de Zurbarán. Such encounters with early modern Spanish works resurface in Cunningham’s paintings, which echo their convoluted forms, intense colours and haunting spirituality.

Partially presented in 2016 at Hoxton Gallery, London, the full collection was displayed in an exhibition at Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery in London, 2022. Accompanied by critical texts and interviews, they are the subject of the book Keith Cunningham: Paintings published by HENI in 2023.