This work follows a period when Gillies pushed his painting furthest into abstraction. In 1935 he had exhibited an entirely abstract group of works at The Society of Eight in Edinburgh. Here Gillies had the platform to exhibit daring modern works to a knowledgeable audience.
In 1934 an exhibition of works by Paul Klee in Edinburgh had delighted Gillies and here he follows Klee by using a title to unlock meaning. Ascending provides a path to consider abstracted shapes and colours. The painting crosses boundaries between what we see and how ideas are formed in our minds.