Safe in the Hands of the Father | Original Oil, 4 x 3ft

An original oil painting on canvas by the Nigerian artist Muktar Yusuf, 4ft by 3ft, of a figure resting with eyes closed in an embrace, crowned with rising gold flame and a blue rose. The painting is about rest. The figure leans into a presence the canvas never shows, wrapped in pale, glowing cloth against a field of deep red and orange, and the calm of the closed eyes is the whole subject. The artist writes that it is about finding refuge in the hands of God the Father when daily life is tiring. The blue rose at the temple recurs across Yusuf's work, where it stands for grace and hope; a second rose, in red, sits lower in the composition. The canvas is signed and dated lower left, Muktar Yusuf '26. At this size it is a centrepiece for a living room, a hallway or a quiet room, and it sits beside the artist's Anxiety Cometh Not, a painting of the same size on the other side of the same question.