3. Self-Expression in Flight and Pursuit

A chapter is devoted to this painting not only because of its quality but also the fact that its subject matter has long been in public dispute. Part of the problem is that Rimmer has been misunderstood as more secular and more oriented toward contemporary subject matter than he actually was. He painted from himself and from his own feelings, which were often concerned with the moral and spiritual. Much of his work is so personal as to be quite enigmatic in meaning, but this picture, showing a man fleeing his conscience, can be understood through his writings ("Stephen and Phillip," a fictitious narrative), patterns in his work, his illness, and a drawing by him with a subject re-identified as a man and his conscience. Flight and Pursuit is related to similar allegorical works on moral themes, such as Dying Centaur.