The chair has been a frequently used subject in painting and photography and can represent or be symbolic of many things. Its familiarity of shape, fabric or other sensory trigger can draw on emotional memory to provide, for example feelings of warmth, comfort and security from early childhood. In contrast, an empty chair has been used to signify loss, loneliness and death. Vincent van Gogh’s paintings often featured chairs as did another of my favourite artists, David Hockney, who said he liked chairs because they had arms and legs, like humans.
