© David Bomberg estate

Painted in the aftermath of the First World War, this work is characterised by its muted, drab, brown palette. Far from a centre of artistic creativity, Bomberg’s studio, with its empty easel, bare floorboards and barred window frame is a barren, hopeless place. Bomberg enlisted during the First World War and served in the trenches. Temporarily discharged after shooting himself in the foot, he was later returned to his unit as a runner. He was released in 1918 to work on a commission of sappers (or tunnellers) at work for the Candadian War Memorials’ Fund. Both unhappy experiences left him disillusioned. Before the war Bomberg had been associated with the Vorticists, whose hard-edged imagery celebrated the modern, urban environment, but after the war his work became more expressive and looser in handling. In his later years he produced powerful, climactic landscapes that contrast with the suffocating internalisation of The Studio.