D-Day, Reconstruction - Beach Landing

This is the central panel of an unconnected triptych. It was Richard's last painting as an Official War Artist for the Admiralty.

Frustrated by censorship, Richard expressed his discontent in a letter to Sydney Schiff on 3 July 1944, stating his intention to work on a large triptych and suggesting it might be his final work for the War Ministry. Struggling with exhaustion, ill-health, and family issues (his infant daughter Joanna had died of meningitis in March 1944), he found the painting difficult to complete. Athough he was dissatisfied with the outcome, the painting expresses an honest view of the …

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This is the central panel of an unconnected triptych. It was Richard's last painting as an Official War Artist for the Admiralty.

Frustrated by censorship, Richard expressed his discontent in a letter to Sydney Schiff on 3 July 1944, stating his intention to work on a large triptych and suggesting it might be his final work for the War Ministry. Struggling with exhaustion, ill-health, and family issues (his infant daughter Joanna had died of meningitis in March 1944), he found the painting difficult to complete. Athough he was dissatisfied with the outcome, the painting expresses an honest view of the war, more in keeping with his personal vision and less favoured by the Admiralty.

All three panels shown in Related Images below.

Catalogue links to each of the panels:

• Battleships at Sea
• Beach Landing
• Bombed Cathedral

13th July 1944:

Spent night on HMS Enterprise. Captain Groves very helpful with regard to the bombardment on D-Day etc.

From the Richard Eurich interview by James Mellen done in 1978 for the Imperial War Museum "Artists in an Age of Conflict" series of sound recordings
". . .  it’s very difficult to do a thing of D-Day. I made a sort of triptych of it. The centre portion is about 9 feet and depicts men running ashore on Normandy beach. And the side pictures which are smaller, though the depth is the same, depict a bombardment from the sea, the initial bombardment which covered the landing, and the one the other side is the destruction of Caen and places …

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From the Richard Eurich interview by James Mellen done in 1978 for the Imperial War Museum "Artists in an Age of Conflict" series of sound recordings
". . .  it’s very difficult to do a thing of D-Day. I made a sort of triptych of it. The centre portion is about 9 feet and depicts men running ashore on Normandy beach. And the side pictures which are smaller, though the depth is the same, depict a bombardment from the sea, the initial bombardment which covered the landing, and the one the other side is the destruction of Caen and places like that, which had to be unfortunately, for the troops to make an advance and to liberate Paris.’

Also see Preparations for D-Day (1944)

See this article in the Guardian about cyclist soldiers.