While modern artistic changes were developing before World W…
While modern artistic changes were developing before World War I, the conflict certainly affected the artistic vision and style of many artists. A landscape by British artist called The Mule Track (1918) demonstrates some of those changes. The artist had previously been influenced by the Realism movement and had painted easy-to-identify idyllic landscapes. After serving in the war, however, his vision changed. The Mule Track is a surrealist painting that shows a nightmarish landscape devastated by war. The painting shows dirt flying through the air (presumably from artillery shell explosions), dead trees, and a chaotic brown mass. The eponymous “Mule Track” is winding and jagged, broken in many places and leads through a treacherous land in the pitch of battle.