Blavatnik Galleries review: how art is war's 'most truthful witness'
New space displays some of the Imperial War Museum's finest art, film and photography

Since it was founded in 1917, London's Imperial War Museum has quietly built up a vast collection of art created in response to conflict, said Simon Heffer in The Daily Telegraph. Its holdings include not only "some of the finest paintings of warfare in the nation's possession", but also hundreds of drawings, prints and sculptures, as well as some "12 million photographs, and 23,000 hours of film footage". Where previously this "fine" trove of art and images was scattered throughout the museum, it now has a dedicated home courtesy of a purpose-built extension that at long last gives the public a chance to fully appreciate it. The new Blavatnik Art, Film and Photography Galleries contain all manner of materials, from wartime masterpieces by the likes of Eric Ravilious and Paul Nash to art created in response to recent conflicts in the Middle East, as well as ephemera including "propaganda posters", "documentary footage of battle" and newsreel films. If there is one complaint about this "handsome" display, it is that it "could never hope to be big enough".
In the context of today's geopolitics, the new space feels "not just topical, but essential", said Stuart Jeffries in The Guardian. The centrepiece of the gallery is John Singer Sargent's epic "Gassed", six metres wide, depicting "a procession of wounded men stumbling, blindfolded, towards a dressing station". Other works range from the angry – Peter Kennard and Cat Phillipps's 2007 photomontage of Tony Blair "holding his phone for a selfie against a background of burning oilfields" – to the reflective. Steve McQueen, appointed an official war artist in 2003, commemorated each of the 179 UK military personnel killed in Iraq with a postage stamp, juxtaposing images of the dead soldiers with "the silhouetted head of the Queen". The stamps were deemed too controversial for Royal Mail to issue – almost, McQueen suggested, as if people were "ashamed" of the dead.
"There is enough engrossing material on display here to keep you sobbing for a week," said Waldemar Januszczak in The Sunday Times. Doris Zinkeisen, the first official artist to enter Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, for instance, depicted its inmates as "grotesquely skeletal and white, thrown out of the death huts like discarded rubbish". More subtly, Walter Sickert's "Tipperary" (1914) sees a woman at a piano in one of his trademark "gloomy" interiors: "the mournful notes counting the miles to Tipperary are as audible as a party next door". Meanwhile, documentary material including letters, timelines and photographs "keep us grounded in the facts". If the Imperial War Museum once felt like a "spooky" institution without a clear role, the new galleries grant it "gravitas and sincerity". The Blavatnik Galleries have "achieved extreme pertinence", and confirm art as "war's most truthful witness".
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Imperial War Museum, London SE1 (020-7416 5000, iwm.org.uk). Now open (free entry)
Sign up to The Week's Arts & Life newsletter for reviews and recommendations
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Today's political cartoons - March 29, 2025
Cartoons Saturday's cartoons - my way or Norway, running orders, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 tactically sound cartoons about the leaked Signal chat
Cartoons Artists take on the clown signal, baby steps, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Roast lamb shoulder with ginger and fresh turmeric recipe
The Week Recommends Succulent and tender and falls off the bone with ease
By The Week UK Published
-
Roast lamb shoulder with ginger and fresh turmeric recipe
The Week Recommends Succulent and tender and falls off the bone with ease
By The Week UK Published
-
Adolescence and the toxic online world: what's the solution?
Talking Point The hit Netflix show is a window into the manosphere, red pills and incels
By The Week Staff Published
-
Snow White: Disney's 'earnest effort to meet an impossible brief'
Talking Point Live-action remake of Disney classic is not the disaster it could have been – but where's the personality?
By The Week UK Published
-
Don McCullin picks his favourite books
The Week Recommends The photojournalist shares works by Daniel Defoe, Lesley Blanch and Roland Philipps
By The Week UK Published
-
6 breathtaking homes in capital cities
Feature Featuring a glass conservatory in Atlanta and a loft library in Boston
By The Week US Published
-
Playhouse Creatures: 'dream-like' play is 'lively, funny and sharp-witted'
Anna Chancellor offers a 'glinting performance' alongside a 'strong' supporting cast
By The Week UK Published
-
The CIA Book Club: 'entertaining and vivid' book explores a huge Cold War secret
The Week Recommends 'Gripping' narrative explores a covert smuggling operation across the Iron Curtain
By The Week UK Published
-
Cherry blossom season: Washington diners’ happy time
feature The five best spots to enjoy the festivities
By The Week US Published