Even though this modern style is different from many paintings of saints, elements of traditional icon paintings can be recognized. There are halos emerging around the heads of the three saints, like in numerous paintings from the Medieval Period. Mary is characteristically dressed in blue to represent her purity and royalty. St. Patrick is represented in green as the patron of Ireland, and St. Brigid is depicted in red due to her association with an eternal flame.

Mainie Jellet enjoyed depicting Christian subject matter in the modernist Cubist style. Jellet indicated her painting represented the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus between two well-known Irish saints; Saint Patrick is on the left and Saint Brigid on the right. This painting was highlighted in the first Irish Exhibition of Living Art in 1943. The IELA was created to provide a platform for the next generation of Irish artists and contributed to the expansion of Irish art in the 1950’s and 60s.