MURA · THE COLLECTION

A Match with Saturn

Two players on a clay tennis court above the sea, cypresses and a village behind them, lemons and lavender in the foreground, and instead of a ball, the planet Saturn, rings and all, crossing the net. Coloured pencil on paper. The rally is in progress.

Mura Studio · 2026 · Colour pencil · Contemporary · story written 25 September 2026

What is going on

The court is coral clay, the net is green, the players are in whites, and the setting is the Riviera in every particular: terracotta pots, a bell tower, a bay. Into this ordinary afternoon someone has served a planet, and both players are playing it as if it were a ball, because that is what you do. The picture never explains itself, which is why it works.

How to look at it

Find Saturn first, then the player who just hit it, then the player waiting for it. The diagonal of the court runs from the top left to the bottom right, and the net cuts it in the middle; the eye goes back and forth like a spectator. Then look at the edges: lemons drawn one by one, lavender in small strokes, the sea in short horizontal lines. The pencil rewards the closest look.

Why it is in Mura

Play, Please, mood vibrant. It is the picture in the collection with the most in it, and it is hung for rooms where someone might sit close to the screen and look.