Colin McCahon explored master narrative via his paintings, where he put the New Zealand landscape into context via his paintings. Perhaps New Zealand's most infamous painter, McCahon actually physically explored the New Zealand landscape,  spending weeks on end travelling through rural New Zealand, especially the North regions and the Nelson area.

McCahon was renowned also for exploring religion within a landscaped background. McCahon used muted colours, and often painted in varying shades of reds and browns.

 The image pictured above right is titled Crucifixion. Christianity was a theme that particularly interested McCahon, and in this work, he pictures an Italian,,Renaissance -like Christ within a postmodernist New Zealand landscape.

McChon suits the master narrative criteria as he was a story teller and a documenter. His Christian related subjects are always placed in a New Zealand context.

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Angel of the Annunciation by  North Otago Landscape
Colin McCahon


Born on the first of August 1919, McCahon was the second of three children. He had a standard primary school education, and after high school, attended the Dunedin School of art, where he found the ideal teacher in R N Field. McCahon studied there for two years.

Later McCahon travelled overseas, where he extensively visited art galleries and museums, taking the opportunity to see what he wanted to see. McCahon lived both in Christchruch and Auckland, he also travelled around the Nelson area, capturing his visions of the New Zealand landscape in large format in oil.