Study for "Fallen Tree against Sunset"

Fallen Tree Against Sunset, 1940 (Borough of Darlington Art Gallery)

"A Study in gouache for this composition...is inscribed by Sutherland on its plywood backing: 'Painted from impression received after watching peculiar sunset over a moss-covered valley. Object is a dead tree trunk covered with moss'. An inscription on another of the preliminary drawings records that this was at Crickhowell." (From: 'Graham Sutherland', Ronald Alley, Tate Gallery 1982, pp. 86-87)