Shared Experience: Art and War

Before Zero Hour

Alex Colville
Before Zero Hour
watercolour on paper
38.8 x 57.3cm
CWM 19710261-2031

“I arose at 0500 hours on 8 February,” noted Colville in his official monthly report, “and I watched medium guns firing the barrage that preceded Operation Veritable [part of the battle for Normandy]. I returned to this spot after breakfast, when it was light, and made studies. The rest of the day I spent painting Before Zero Hour, a nocturne.”