Reflections c.1950 shows Kenneth Macqueen’s capacity to achieve striking effects with a simplified palette. Ostensibly a study of a tree-fringed pool, the reflections in the foreground are the painting’s true subject, with the still water serving as a foil for the artist’s exploration of mirrored form. Through this approach, Macqueen introduces an otherworldly quality to the artwork that transforms his landscape into an ethereal scene. The effect is clearly intentional, as Macqueen similarly exploited the distortions achieved through reflections and shadows in other artworks from this period such as Evening by the creek c.1950 (QUT Art Collection). As the art critic for the Bulletin observed in a review of Macqueen’s 1951 exhibition at the Grosvenor Galleries, Sydney:  

His paintings may be placed in two categories: those that are merely decorative patterns and which leave the present commentator rather cold; and those in which the moods of nature, though never quite naturalistically depicted, are represented in striking images.