Shell bursting, Passchendaele

The ruins of buildings and blasted trees on a farm near Passchendaele, with explosions seen in the background. During the First World War isolated buildings received more shells than the open ground because they were assumed to be used as shelters for troops. This lithograph is based on a drawing 'Shell bursting', which Nash sketched in Flanders during the last days of the fighting around Passchendaele. The image is shown in reverse in the lithograph and lines he has scratched into the inked surface of the stone are visible in the image. Nash visited the western front for five weeks during his second tour of duty and spent most of November drawing the aftermath of the fighting at Passchendaele. His surrealist landscapes reflect the desolation and chaos of war, with natural features replaced by bombed buildings and water-filled shell-holes.