Irene Rice Pereira’s abstraction sought to express a new perception of the world inspired by developments in modern science. Hence, her works explore the physics, philosophy and psychology of the perception of light, space, and time. Pereira looked at light as an independent formal element and in works such as Reflection the layered transparent panes create a picture that contains its own light radiating outwards and within. The composition’s impression of perpetual movement and flux is the result of the artist’s experimentation, in 1939, with layering multiple panes of glass painted with non-objective forms. Viewed from different angles the multiple patterns shift, their shadows refract, and the reflections glance across the glass and the gold paint, constantly producing new compositions and kinetic impressions. The play of light and shadows captures the process of change and movement and reveals the interrelationship between space and time. Peggy Guggenheim purchased Reflection directly from Irene Rice Pereira in 1943, and the work featured in Periera’s solo show at the museum-gallery Art of This Century in 1944.