WWI Art Interpretation                         April 12th

"Gassed" by John Singer Sargent
 (January 12, 1856 Florence  – April 14, 1925 London)

 

John Singer Sargent was an American artist, he was considered "leading portrait painter of his generation". He was hired by the British War Memorials committee

to document the war. He spent time near the front in 1918 with Guards Division near Arras, and then with the American Expeditionary Forces near Ypres, and this is where he received the inspiration for this painting.

 

 

The tone of this painting is routine. This painting gives the viewer a sense of sadness for the troops, it displays how routine the gas attacks were in battles and how terrible the gas was.

 

I think the artist felt very bitter about his experiences being out in the front seeing all these wounded men, and their comrades looking at them with indifference because it was a routine thing to happen

 

I do think that this absolutely portrays accurately how it was to get out of the mustard gas alive.