© David Bomberg estate

The 'ghetto theatre', the Pavilion Theatre in Whitechapel, was a key source of inspiration for Bomberg in his exuberant and ambitious pre- First World War studies and paintings. After the trauma of the First World War and a disappointing war commission, Bomberg returned to the ghetto theatre for a final sequence of works before leaving both the East End and this subject matter for good. This interior reflects the claustrophobia of his commissioned 'sappers' drawings.