RNAS Sick Bay, Dundee

Ravilious was employed as an official war artist in 1940, first with the Admiralty and then with the RAF. His travels took him to Norway, Scotland, Hertfordshire, Yorkshire and finally Iceland in August 1942, where he was reported missing during an air-sea rescue mission. This watercolour captures the brilliance of his pattern, order and light. It is an image that plays on contrasts: the shaded, ordered interior and the expansive light-flooded seascape; the patterned bed cover and the toy-like aeroplane. Ravilious had a particular fascination with the featured Walrus seaplanes: 'I do very much enjoy drawing these queer flying machines.... . They are comic things with a strong personality.'