The Lake

The Lake was painted when Lowry was under great stress in his private life, struggling to care for his bedfast mother. Everything in the painting seems bleak. The fence in the foreground is surrounded by what appear to be tombstones; the crucifix-like telegraph poles point into a stagnant area of devastation. To the left, a line of men may be queuing for a chance of work. In the background however, the red mill draws the eye to a finely painted skyline. Mills, mines and smoking chimneys are intertwined with churches and town halls. Today, not far from Lowry�ï�¿�½s home, a view down the Irwell valley to the Manchester skyline now dominated by the Beetham tower looks over land that was once the Agecroft colliery but is now a country park.