The works in this room were made in ten months from June 1953 to March 1954. They show Hilton's debt to his old friend Stephen Gilbert and, especially, to the Dutch artist Constant. Like them, he was seeking to find a modern adaptation of the abstract compositions of Piet Mondrian and Kasimir Malevich.

With these works, Hilton explored the ways in which colours and forms could be combined without creating the illusion of depth. The paint does not overlap but is applied in discrete blocks – you can often see the canvas between one colour and its neighbour. These paintings have been described as austere but, even this early, we can see Hilton's love of a richly textured paint surface. In these most abstract of works one can still find the suggestion of human figures.

The development of modern painting, from abstract to something more human that better suited its time, was the main focus of Hilton's career.