British painter Susan Ryder began painting professionally at an early age. Encouraged by her father, Robert Ryder VC, an enthusiastic amateur painter who imbued his daughter with a similar passion, she entered the prestigious Byam Shaw School of Art. There, her tutor, Bernard Dunstan, introduced her to the work of the post- Impressionist Edouard Vuillard, whose gentle scenes of intimate interiors, domestic spaces and gardens in soft blurred colours proved a significant influence on her painting style and choice of subject for the rest of her career.