The capitulation of Barcelona

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

Lewis worked on this painting in the same year when the Civil War began in Spain – this event also became the starting point for his novel “Revenge for Love” – it was published in the same year, but the author denied any connection between the painting and the book. He claimed to have gone to Barcelona to write “the 14th-century scene”. Therefore, the frieze depicting knights in the foreground in armour can be seen as a hint at Velasquez’s painting “The Surrender of Breda”, created in 1635. In the composition, we can trace techniques of Cubist and Futurist painting, and due to the warm palette, it is more emotional and close to Expressionism.