The Finish 1981, also known as L'Arrivée (The Arrival) Originally known as TIME VII: Race finish 1981 Douglas MacDiarmid, Paris Oil on canvas 73 x 54 cm

Adrenalin-charged runners at the finish; a climax of human endurance and competitive striving. This painting was first exhibited in Paris as part of Douglas' major Les Temps (TIME) series, shown to great acclaim at Galerie Lambert, 14 rue Saint-Louis-en-l'Ile, 75009 Paris from 20-29 October 1983. It was Paris-based MacDiarmid's first exhibition in the city for six years, and his 11th show in Paris.

The series examined many aspects of human interaction with time, including a handful of sports-related paintings such as this foot race. Motorbike racing, horse racing, bull fighting, snow skiing and a larger oil of sprinters were among the subject matter addressed by Douglas MacDiarmid in this diverse series of 36 paintings.

In the December 1983 issue of the art monthly 'l'Amateur d'Art, French critic Pascale Thuillant wrote of the exhibition: "Time, what it traces on the human face, waiting, time that is lost is the theme... Rather than indulging in philosophical speculation MacDiarmid simply states visual facts. His works not only show his linear and colour gifts but also his understanding of humanity".

Biographical note: Douglas MacDiarmid is an expatriate New Zealand painter who has lived and worked in France since 1951. He is also a published novelist and poet. Now almost 98 (14 November), he continues to live in Montmartre. He painted and exhibited well into his 90s, and is recognised by art historians as the longest-lived and longest-working New Zealand-born artist, a superb colourist and expressionist painter, and one of the "most formally accomplished, imaginative and intellectually and philosophically sophisticated artists from this country" (Associate Professor Leonard Bell, University of Auckland, New Zealand's most senior art historian, 2018).

Indeed, MacDiarmid is arguably the oldest living painter with the longest creative career in Australasia, that distinction challenged only by New South Wales painter Guy Warren (99) who is still painting, but started his career several years later than Douglas.

Anna Cahill