'There is a kind of colour that I find especially attractive: pale green with pale yellow, which makes a reference to something cool, a ‘hint of mint’ – as in menthol-cool. I like this artificiality … in using it I am already halfway away from reality or from specific representations that I want to avoid'
(Richard Smith, quoted in exhibition catalogue, Richard Smith Paintings 1958-1966, London, Whitechapel Gallery, 1966, np)