Bishop gained fame for her writing, yet many of her readers were unaware that she was an avid visual artist as well. Her passion for painting, mainly in watercolors, continued throughout her adult life: she recorded the banal landmarks of her childhood as well as scenes from her years in Brazil. Such visual diaries, sometimes cynical and humorously quirky, often give us a window into Bishop’s darker emotional life, which was plagued by alcoholism and family trauma. The paintings also continue a central theme in Bishop’s poetry; as in her written work, Bishop’s sketches are intended to evoke questions about the function of art itself.