Paul NASH
English 1889-1946
Landscape of the Summer Solstice
1943
oil on canvas
71.8 x 91.6 cm
Felton Bequest 1951
2948-4

Although this painting is a symbolic rather than a representational landscape, Nash was inspired by a view of the English country-side near Oxford when he visited a friend there in 1942. He wrote that he studied the surroundings through binoculars, which may have contributed to the flatness of the landscape. The flowers in the foreground are treated with similar degree of detail as are the distant trees.
Nash painted this area often as the different seasons brought the inevitable changes. The timing, suggested by the title, is clearly of great importance, as the sun is at its peak for the year.

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