Her canvases achieve a unique harmony between spontaneity and discipline. Layers of wax and acrylic, enhanced by oil-stick and pastel, produce chromatic fields that appear to breathe. As though every brushstroke captures a moment of listening—to the surface, the pigment, something internal and unsaid—her brushwork exudes both urgency and restraint.

The paintings seem like vibrant, rhythmic, expansive abstract symphonies when viewed from a distance. They start to unfold up close, exposing the apparitions inside. A girl in a boat, a child playing, a dancer in the middle of a turn, a church rising through the fog—forms shimmer into recognition. These images are remembered rather than portrayed; they appear as ephemeral, bright dreams. Lévy Burton’s artwork invites the observer to give in to slow seeing and rewards patience.

Sophie Lévy Burton discovered painting later in life, following a prosperous career in writing and publishing, in contrast to many modern artists who follow the conventional path through art schools and residencies. In addition to being well-known for her paintings, the London-based artist is also the creator and editor of MONK, an independent arts and culture publication renowned for its reflective, philosophical tone. Her experience in editing and literature permeates her visual work, lending it a unique emotional clarity and precision — a writer’s ear moulded into a painter’s language.

Since she developed her artistic vocabulary outside the confines of formal training, Lévy Burton frequently claims to be primarily self-taught. She refers to abstract painting as “a language returning us to a wholeness”. Her art is a shift in perspective towards colour. To her, painting is more about a silent discipline—attention, emotion, and inner stillness—than it is about being a part of a movement. Her work is so captivating because of this intensely personal approach, which is devoid of theory but full of reflection. She paints in an attempt to reclaim something essential and real.

Lévy Burton’s practice is grounded in a spiritual poise. Her pieces vacillate between texture and translucency, substance and reverie. Colour serves more as breath—a medium for rhythm and thought—than as decoration. Lévy Burton’s voice is distinctly her own—tender, rigorous, and subtly radical—even though her visual language may evoke Rothko’s meditative gravitas or Joan Mitchell’s lyric intensity.

Instead of being a spectacle, the opening turned into a gathering of sincere curiosity. Among the esteemed attendees were Anthony Fawcett, whose keen eye and long-standing interest in modern abstraction gave the evening a sense of gravity, the well-known duo Zatorski + Zatorski, and contemporary artist Constantin Cosmin. The gallery itself seemed to breathe differently that night. Everyone in the room seemed to instinctively know that in order to fully appreciate these paintings, one must be still.

In the end, The River Beneath the River is an exhibition about perception. The paintings of Sophie Lévy Burton maintain that narrative need not be excluded from abstraction and that emotion can be reduced to form without sacrificing mystery. They are pieces meant to be seen again and again, in different settings and with different emotions. An intimate, fleeting, and deeply human story emerges from what starts out as a field of colour.

As a painter of rare sensibility—one whose river flows deep beneath the visible world, carrying the memory of all that cannot be said—Sophie Lévy-Burton has made a name for herself in her ability to summon imagery from atmosphere and bring the invisible tremble to life.

The River Beneath The River exhibition runs from 6 to 18 October, 10:00–17:00, at The Gallery at Green & Stone, 251–253 Fulham Road, Chelsea, SW3 6HY