McCahon’s 1970 painting A grain of wheat is on display in the staircase between Level 4 and 5 of the gallery. This is one a number of ‘word’ paintings that McCahon produced in the 1960s and 1970s. There is a powerful immediacy to these canvasses – here he adds meaning, emphasis and cadence to the words through the use of capitals, and in painting light letters over a dark ground.
Text extracted from the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa website.