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Paul Nash  1889-1946

Paul Nash Landscape at Iden 1929
© Tate
Landscape at Iden  1929

Oil on canvas
support: 698 x 908 mm frame: 850 x 1055 x 92 mm
painting

Purchased 1939

N05047

This mysterious picture shows the view from Nash’s studio in Sussex. The dramatic perspective and strange juxtaposition of rustic objects creates a sense of the uncanny. It has been read as a statement of mourning. While the young fruit trees may suggest the defencelessness of youth, the altar-like pile of logs may be a symbol of fallen humanity; the fallen tree as a symbol for the dead was common in the art and literature of the war, not least in Nash’s own paintings.For many, an idea of the timeless and enduring English landscape seemed to displace the violent destruction of the war.

 (From the display caption July 2007)