Wire

Mediums: oil, canvas.
Location: The collection of the Imperial War Museum, London (the UK).

Briefly about the painting:

The work was not only one of the biggest in the cycle about the First World War, but also the most powerful emotionally symbolic canvas by Paul Nash. There are no explosions reaching the sky and corpses plunging into the mud. The main character of the plot is a tree – or rather, a split high stump from it, braided into a barbed wire. The image is akin to a crown of thorns, and it is enough to represent the catastrophe of the war. The impression is enhanced by the smoke and glow of the conflagration, which the viewer does not see, but the dark trail of which is ready to devour the remnants of the bright sky.