"Gassed" by John Singer Sargent

This painting, "Gassed" by John Singer Sargent (click to make REAL big), was inspired by what the painter saw at a 1918 casualty station while on the Western Front. It's about 7 1/2 by 20 feet. The centerpiece, that group walking through the middle ground of the painting, are soldiers that are able to walk, but not able to see. They were all blinded by mustard gas.


The painting was finished and the original hangs in the Imperial War Museum. Sargent's various  sketches are housed at several venues: the Corcoran, The Cleveland Museum of Art, private collections.

The image of "Gassed" and the preliminary sketches are from the John Singer Sargent Virtual Gallery site, curated with care and much historical context by Natasha Wallace. 

This Saturday, June 28, 2014, commemorates the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. This event triggered what was then called the World War, the Great War or The War to End All Wars.