Created in 1936-8, Landscape from a dream is a personal response by Paul Nash to surrealism and how dreams can reveal the unconscious. The medium of the painting is oil paint on canvas. The support of the painting measures 679 x 1016 mm while the frame measures 904 x 1242 x 115 mm. This painting represents, as the title suggests, Nash's "Landscape from a dream" and what his dreams look like in his mind. One of the most notable elements in the painting is colour and the effect that it has on the rest of the painting. The dull colours of the background and the outside world contrast sharply with the bright, warm colours included inside the mirror. When I first looked closely at this painting, I was mystified by thinking about the meaning and what Nash is trying to convey. The strange inclusion of the lone hawk on the ground stood out first to me. There is one hawk on the floor, seemingly looking at itself in the mirror, confused. While the other hawk is flying in the warm sky, enjoying the free space. The painting is set on the coast of Dorset, this relates to how Nash enjoyed both creating landscape artworks but also intriguing, confusing yet wonderful surrealist artworks.
Totes Meer, German for 'Dead Sea', was created in 1940-1 and is on loan to the Southbank centre in London. The medium for the painting is oil paint on canvas. The support for the piece is 1016 x 1524 mm and the frame measures 1170 x 1680 x 97 mm. This piece would have been created by Nash during WWII and would have surely reflected emotions he experienced both in that War and also WWI. The colours used in the painting are very reflective of the mood, dull and sad. The light grey and cloudy blue used on planes and old war pieces creates a 'sea' of death and sorrow. This sets the piece out to have a very sad and reflective emotion. The 'sea' is in fact created of shattered plane wings, wheels and construction parts among other pieces. The lines of the wings look like a stormy sea washing, ragingly washing out onto the ground. The ground we can see is in fact a make-do grave for a old war plane in Cowley, Oxfordshire. This is what Nash thought of the yard: ‘The thing looked to me suddenly, like a great inundating sea ... the breakers rearing up and crashing on the plain. And then, no: nothing moves, it is not water or even ice, it is something static and dead.’ This quote perfectly captures the emotions he is trying to convey with the painting, 'static and dead'. The painting makes me feel sorrow and sadness about the loss caused by war. It is a very reflective painting whilst still being surrealist. The way the lines and pieces are formed creates different kind of 'sea' and is very unconventional.
The Menin road was created in 1919. The medium is oil on canvas. The structure of the painting measures 1828 x 3175 mm and the frame is 2160 x 3515 x 75 mm. The painting is kept in the Imperial War Museum in London. Nash captures a War battlefield with puddles, trenches, dead trees, bombs and shrapnel everywhere. This action is all placed under a bleak sky. The two soldiers in the centre of the painting are making their way through no-mans land to their inevitable demise. All life is either gone or meaningless in this piece, adding to the sadness and sorrow feeling created by Nash. Another feeling that I personally picked out of this painting is that it felt almost dreamlike and certainly is a piece that follows the surrealism movement. This can be felt when looking into the background at the either clouds or mountains and also the large light beams which can paint a picture of heaven in the viewers mind.
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This gallery blog page includes three different artworks that are examples of surrealism by Paul Nash. Below each artwork, there is an analysis providing an overview of the subjective and structual frame.
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