The Lamp

In 1944, the war was close to be won by the allied forces and Graham Sutherland’s work as an Official War Artist was close to ending. The Lamp therefore marks an evident departure from the industrial subjects of his wartime works. This painting, alongside another variation of the subject painted in a similar composition, depicts a paraffin lamp found in a cottage in Sandy Haven, Pembrokeshire, where the Sutherlands stayed in the summer of the same year. This cottage was a regular source for Sutherland’s work and was a common origin for his most successful pre-war work. Despite this, his confident use of an intense yellow-orange background combined with the deep pink of the lamp and bright green of the surrounding foliage creates an image that seems to look more to the future. This vibrant, abstract still life pre-dates his later visits to the South of France and association with the modernists, Matisse and Picasso.

The lamp head, immersed in the natural greenery of the surrounding plants, seems to take on the semblance of an exotic, pink flower rather than a man-made form. The leaves bounce around imbuing the image with a sense of playfulness as Sutherland’s quick brushwork creates a vivacious energy to these natural forms. This hint towards abstraction and a bolder palette marks a noteworthy change in Sutherland's compositions, and as the end of the war was in sight, this painting emphasises peace, life and hope for the future.