The Beached Margin

Mediums: tempera, canvas, wood.
Location: The Tate Modern Gallery, London (the UK).

Wadsworth was fascinated by the sea, ships, collected the appropriate attributes and constantly used them in still lifes. This painting is typical of the artist’s manner, often combining landscape and still life, but unexpected in its comparisons and shifts in scale, referring to the works of de Chirico. Traveling a lot, Wadsworth was better informed than most British artists about events in the world of continental art and probably was familiar with the works of the early Surrealists. This is evidenced by the smoothness of the painting, the careful depiction of objects and the ambiguous images sometimes embarrassing critics and spectators.