Primarily a painter, Kiff pursued the formal qualities of painting - of shape, line, texture, transparency and colour. His practice was driven by an exploration of the material and emotional properties of colour, viewing colour as image, and image as colour. ‘Violinist’ (1974) is exemplary of his use of yellow, which he used in many variations throughout his paintings. Kiff loved music, he had a wide knowledge of classical music from all periods, but rarely painted musicians often stating that ‘the music is the painting.’ Here music is portrayed as extending from the violin in a tubelike shape with winged figures playfully placed. Kiff would deftly paint a visual poetry to explore fundamental qualities of the human condition.