Gallipoli

The first panel of a diptych. A group of figures in the water, one wearing a plumed hat and corporals stripes (referring to links between Anzacs and Homeric wars). Sprawled across the vast panels of the diptych is a mass of tortured floating figures in what has been described as 'an aquatic vision of hell'. The painting brings together imagery from several sources, including photographs of soldiers swimming at Gallipoli, the imagined situation of the soldiers shot in the water or drowned during the landing, and the death of Nolan's younger brother Raymond, who drowned while awaiting demobilisation at the end of the Second World War. On the left hand side of the left panel Nolan includes what is taken to be a portrayal of his father (who was never reconciled to Raymond's accidental death) in a futile attempt to rescue his son. In contrast to the other works in the series, the 'Gallipoli' diptych conveys the greatest sense of despair, as it weaves together the horror at the loss of life in 1915 and the anguish of family tragedy. A figure in foreground of left panel has plumed hat, but other figures seem to be naked. The artist described the diptych as homage to war, relating to a cycle of 3 wars: Trojan, Gallipoli, and Second World War. It is linked to the legend of Troy through the story of Leda and the Swan (giving birth to Helen of Troy), and with the artist's 'Leda and the Swan' series. It is also inspired by Bertoldt Brecht's poem about the crusades of Polish children lost during the 1939-45 war and by Benjamin Britten's 'War Requiem'. The two stripes on one of the figures refer to Nolan's wartime rank of corporal. Some of the figures derive from Michelangelo's (lost) painting of the flood.

• Gallipoli