Notes

Write a note in this area. It's Gassed Analysis


Artashes Yeritsyan
History 21 8:00 AM (MWF)
March 15, 2018






Gassed is an oil painting by John Singer Sargent depicting the aftermath of a mustard gas attack on the Western Front in August 1918. Sargent had been ordered by the British Government to make a painting that would represent the remembrance of World War One. Sargent went to the small village of Bailleulval, and witnessed soldiers being treated at dressing stations after being blinded by a mustard gas attack.
Many drastic events caused World War One. The primary cause of World War One was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, at Sarajevo on June 28, 1914 (Raymer). Austria asked for the help of Germany to invade France and Belgium, to which Germany agreed (Raymer). This resulted in countries taking sides due to their already existing treaties. This started the conflict between the Central Powers and the Allies. The Central Powers consisted of Bulgaria, Germany, the Ottoman Empire, and Austria-Hungary. While The Allies consisted of France, Serbia, Italy, Russia, the United States, Belgium, and the United Kingdom.
After the Allies defeated the Central Powers, many consequences of the war lived on. One of the greatest outcomes of World War One was the introduction of new military tactics and chemical warfare. With new chemical warfare (gas), both sides of the war lost about thirty-seven million lives, including both military and civilian casualties (Raymer).
John Singer Sargent’s “life-size” (Dworsky, 23) canvas shows the aftermath of a gas attack on the Western Front. He makes his canvas large, to show that the loss of human lives was the true effect of the war. Sargent made the oil painting “life-size” (Dworsky, 23) to show the effect of war and how it cost millions upon millions of lives. The painting shows two lines of ten men, one in the middle of the painting, and the other on the far left side. They are wearing ragged and torn clothing, but some are still holding onto their weapons. This symbolizes how the government focuses and cares much more about the victory of the war, over the actual soldiers who are fighting and are greatly endangering their lives. The government will supply the soldiers with the weaponry to win the war, but they do not care enough about the soldiers themselves to supply them with bare necessities, such as clothing (Lubin 55).
It is sunset, and the two lines of soldiers are being led along a duckboard to a dressing station by a medical orderly. The first line of ten soldiers is being led by a faceless man. This symbolizes how the people who cared and gave medical attention to the soldiers, were never given the same fame and glory as the men who fought on the front lines. The first line of ten soldiers is each holding onto the shoulder of the man in front of them because they are wearing bandages around their eyes as a result of surviving an attack from lacrimators, in this case, mustard gas (Dworsky 23). As the third soldier in the line raises his foot much higher than needed to reach the wooden platform, he shows the blinding effect of mustard gas, which is used during trench warfare (Dworsky 23). Many severely wounded and dead soldiers are lying all over the ground, also wearing bandages around their eyes, with the Christian Cross placed on their dead bodies. This is placed to show where a soldier has died, which also represents that the soldiers cared for and respected one another by placing the crosses on the dead bodies of their comrades. The second line of wounded soldiers in the background are also being led by a medical orderly to a dressing station. Like the first line of soldiers, they, too, are holding onto the shoulder of the man in front of them, with bandages around their eyes. The third to last man is bent over, vomiting on the ground. This is one of the traumatic side effects of inhaling the mustard gas.
Gassed primarily focuses on the blindness of the soldiers, both physically and metaphorically. The soldiers are seen holding onto the shoulder of the man in front of them and wearing bandages around their eyes as a result of exposure to the mustard gas. Although this is true, the theme of blindness plays a much larger role in Gassed. In World War One, many soldiers were exposed to bombs and harmful gases and were constantly fighting for their lives.
When soldiers came in contact with poisonous gases, not only was their vision obscured but the gas also, figuratively, blinded the soldiers from the harsh reality of war (Dworsky, 24). This shows how the soldiers thought of the glory and triumph of war, but once they entered the battlefield, they quickly realized the dangers and reality of war, such as losing their lives. “For many, gas took the war into the realm of the unreal, the make-believe. When men donned their masks they lost all sign of humanity, and with their long snouts, large glass eyes, and slow movements, they became figures of fantasy, closer in their angular features to the creations of Picasso and Braque than to soldiers of tradition” (Eksteins 163). The painting shows how the mustard gas attacks brought reality and sense into the soldiers who were risking their lives. The soldiers faced reality and learned the dangers of war, such as death.
John Singer Sargent usually creates art that depicts Christianity. In Gassed, he showcases the biblical prophecy that states that if a blind man follows another blind man, then both men will fall into a ditch. Sargent depicts this metaphor, by showing the line of blind soldiers following each other. This is a metaphor for how the government leads the soldiers into hospital tents during battles in World War One.
While Sargent is continuously emphasizing the blindness of the soldiers, he is simultaneously showing their visibility. He draws the sky with a pinkish yellow haze which shines a golden light onto the injured and dead soldiers lying on the ground. The golden glow of the sky is “a stark contrast to the darkness that manifests behind the blindfolds” (Dworsky 24). Sargent drew the golden glow on the soldiers, to shine a light on how they stick together and help each other out even when they are in horrible conditions. They aid each other when they cannot see and help each other walk by holding onto one another.
John Singer Sargent draws two men who are behind both lines of soldiers. The two uninjured men are wearing blue and red shirts, and playing football (This is known as soccer in the United States). They both seem oblivious to the horrific situation surrounding them. The two men and their football match symbolize the cold-heartedness on the part of the military leadership towards the suffering of their troops. The military leaders must make sure that they win at all costs, so they do not care about the loss of the men in the process. The two men and their football match also symbolize, how each of the medical workers and staff of the military who are under intense stress, play football as a means of escape. During World War One, playing football was not only a way of exercise for the soldiers, but it was also a way to escape trauma and pain (Dworsky). This is why the staff of the military who are under immense stress and suffer every day from the trauma of war, are shown playing football to depict how they escaped from the emotional trauma of war.
In conclusion, John Singer Sargent’s oil painting, Gassed, depicts the aftermath of a mustard gas attack on the Western Front. Gassed is objective because it is about what Sargent saw when he went to the Western Front. Even though both military leaders and soldiers knew the harmful effects of chemical warfare, they also recognized its benefits and they used it against their enemies. All in all, Gassed helps the modern world understand the devastating and traumatic results of war and the effects of chemical warfare during World War One.




















Works Cited
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