South Africa-born artist Lisa Brice first began working on her series of blue female nudes in 2014. “The situations are imagined,” she says, “but based on real experience.” They’ve been all-consuming at times: “I painted a group of 60 continuously day and night for a month,” she says. “Eventually they grew into a small army of feminine figures.”

Brice, who now lives in London after spells in Trinidad, partly chose the colour because of its associations, “from the glow of blue neon signs to the fleeting colour of twilight, to the Trinidadian ‘blue devil’ carnival character”.

The paintings are now on display at Tate Britain. Nudes have long been painted by and for men, and Brice sees hers as an important reclamation of the female body. “Whether her figures are undressing or enjoying a cigarette, “they are not presenting themselves for the pleasure of the viewer – their own pleasure is paramount”.

Art Now: Lisa Brice is at Tate Britain, London until 27 August