I completed another Smithsonian class, this time focused on John Singer Sargent's painting, Gassed. The class was taught by Paul Glenshaw, who always has fascinating insights into the paintings he discusses.
The painting is large -- 9' high x 22' wide, and was first exhibited in May 1919 at the Royal Academy Exhibition in London. World War I had ended in November 1918. Sargent saw this scene himself a few months before the war was over.
Until his favorite niece was killed in a bombing in London, Sargent had been fairly oblivious to the war, continuing his world travels and portrait-painting of the well-to-do. This event motivated him to go to the front as a war artist in 1918, when he was in his 60s.
The painting is nearly monochromatic, a procession of khaki and olive drab. Two exceptions: tiny brightly colored planes fly over the heads of the small group of soldiers, and a soccer game is visible between the legs of the main group.
.jpg)
.jpg)
