Oil paint on canvas
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Contemporary Art Society
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/paul-nash-1690" aria-label="More by Paul Nash" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Paul Nash</a>
Landscape a Dream
Presented by the Contemporary Art Society 1946
<p>This painting marks the culmination of Nash’s personal response to Surrealism, of which he had been aware since the late 1920s. As the title suggests, it echoes the Surrealists’ fascination with Freud’s theories of the power of dreams to reveal the unconscious. Nash explained that various elements were symbolic: the self-regarding hawk belongs to the material world, while the spheres reflected in the mirror refer to the soul. Typically, Nash set this scene on the coast of Dorset, unearthing the uncanny within the English landscape.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2013</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
18 November 2002 – 23 March 2003
2003-03-23
18 November 2002 – 23 March 2003
2003-03-23
2002-11-18
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2002-11-18
Paul Nash: The Englishness of Surrealism
Collection based display
23 July 2003 – 19 October 2003
2003-10-19
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2003-07-23
Paul Nash: Modern Artist, Ancient Landscape
Exhibition
1 February 2010 – 31 May 2010
2010-05-31
1 February 2010 – 31 May 2010
2010-05-31
2010-02-01
Dulwich Picture Gallery (London, UK)
2010-02-01
Paul Nash: The Elements
Loan-out
4 November 2011 – 30 September 2012
2012-09-30
4 November 2011 – 29 January 2012
2012-01-29
2011-11-04
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
25 February 2012 – 3 June 2012
2012-06-03
2012-02-25
Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto (Rovereto, Italy)
http://www.mart.trento.it
23 June 2012 – 30 September 2012
2012-09-30
2012-06-23
Hamburger Kunsthalle (Hamburg, Germany)
http://www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de
2011-11-04
Alice in Wonderland
Exhibition
25 February 2012 – 30 September 2012
2012-09-30
25 February 2012 – 3 June 2012
2012-06-03
2012-02-25
Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto (Rovereto, Italy)
http://www.mart.trento.it
15 June 2012 – 30 September 2012
2012-09-30
2012-06-15
Hamburger Kunsthalle (Hamburg, Germany)
http://www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de
2012-02-25
Alice in Wonderland
Loan-out
28 January 2013 – 25 August 2013
2013-08-25
28 January 2013 – 12 May 2013
2013-05-12
2013-01-28
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2013-01-28
Schwitters in Britain
Exhibition
28 January 2013 – 25 August 2013
2013-08-25
2 June 2013 – 25 August 2013
2013-08-25
2013-06-02
Sprengel Museum (Hannover, Germany)
2013-01-28
Schwitters and Britain
Loan-out
26 March 2015 – 27 May 2020
2020-05-27
26 March 2015 – 21 June 2015
2015-06-21
2015-03-26
Museo Nacional de Arte (Mexico City, Mexico)
18 July 2015 – 18 October 2015
2015-10-18
2015-07-18
Pinacoteca do Estado (São Paulo, Brazil)
27 April 2018 – 5 August 2018
2018-08-05
2018-04-27
Shanghai Art Museum (Shanghai, China)
4 September 2018 – 13 November 2018
2018-11-13
2018-09-04
National Art Museum of China (Beijing, China)
27 November 2019 – 27 May 2020
2020-05-27
2019-11-27
Hong Kong Museum of Art (Hong Kong, China)
2015-03-26
British Landscape
Tate partnerships & programmes
24 October 2016 – 31 January 2018
2018-01-31
24 October 2016 – 5 March 2017
2017-03-05
2016-10-24
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
7 April 2017 – 20 August 2017
2017-08-20
2017-04-07
Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts (Norwich, UK)
9 September 2017 – 31 January 2018
2018-01-31
2017-09-09
Laing Art Gallery (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK)
http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/
2016-10-24
Paul Nash
Loan-out
26 October 2016 – 14 January 2018
2018-01-14
26 October 2016 – 5 March 2017
2017-03-05
2016-10-26
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
7 April 2017 – 20 August 2017
2017-08-20
2017-04-07
Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts (Norwich, UK)
9 September 2017 – 14 January 2018
2018-01-14
2017-09-09
Laing Art Gallery (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK)
http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/
2016-10-26
Paul Nash
Exhibition
5 May 2022 – 4 September 2022
2022-09-04
5 May 2022 – 4 September 2022
2022-09-04
2022-05-05
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
1 October 2022 – 22 January 2023
2023-01-22
2022-10-01
Mead Gallery (Coventry, UK)
http://www.warwickartscentre.co.uk
2022-05-05
Radical Landscapes
Exhibition
7 October 2022 – 18 February 2024
2024-02-18
7 October 2022 – 18 December 2022
2022-12-18
2022-10-07
Mead Gallery (Coventry, UK)
http://www.warwickartscentre.co.uk
2022-10-07
Radical Landscapes
Loan-out
24 June 2024
24 June 2024
2024-06-24
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2024-06-24
Archive Gallery: Artists International Association
Collection based display
1 November 2025 – 30 May 2027
2027-05-30
1 November 2025 – 28 February 2026
2026-02-28
2025-11-01
External
1 April 2026 – 31 July 2026
2026-07-31
2026-04-01
External
1 September 2026 – 31 December 2026
2026-12-31
2026-09-01
External
1 February 2027 – 30 May 2027
2027-05-30
2027-02-01
External
2025-11-01
IP: The Future of Statues: The Surrealist International
Loan-out
Landscape from a Dream
support: 679 × 1016 mm
frame: 904 × 1244 × 119 mm
Presented by the <a href="/search?gid=999999975" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Contemporary Art Society</a> 1946
<div class="text">
<p>This painting marks the culmination of Nash’s personal response to Surrealism, of which he had been aware since the late 1920s. As the title suggests, it echoes the Surrealists’ fascination with Freud’s theories of the power of dreams to reveal the unconscious. Nash explained that various elements were symbolic: the self-regarding hawk belongs to the material world, while the spheres reflected in the mirror refer to the soul. Typically, Nash set this scene on the coast of Dorset, unearthing the uncanny within the English landscape.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2013-09-16T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N05667</b> LANDSCAPE FROM A DREAM 1936–8</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Inscr. ‘Paul Nash’ b.l.
<br/>Canvas, 26 3/4×40 (68×101·5).
<br/>Presented by the Contemporary Art Society 1946.
<br/><i>Coll:</i> Purchased by the C.A.S. from the artist through the Leicester Galleries 1938.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> Leicester Galleries, May–June 1938 (40); Gordon Fraser Gallery, Cambridge, 1939 (2); British Council, <i>Contemporary British Art</i>, New York World's Fair, 1939 (85), Canadian tour, Boston and Chicago, 1939–40 (85), and Toledo, 1942 (58, repr. p.54); Tate Gallery, March–May 1948 (49).
<br/><i>Lit:</i> Eates, 1948, p.79, repr. pl.94 (in colour); E. H. Ramsden, ‘Paul Nash as Landscape Painter’ in Eates, 1948, p.32; Bertram, 1955, pp.247–8; Digby, 1955, pp.172–6, repr. pl.48; Rothenstein, 1961, at pl.7, repr. (in colour).
<br/><i>Repr:</i> Read, 1944, pl.18; <i>Architectural Review</i>, CII, 1947, p.74; <i>Studio</i>, CXXXV, 1948, p.69 (in colour); Carlos Peacock, <i>Painters and Writers</i>, 1949, pl.95 (in colour).pl.48; Rothenstein, 1961, at pl.7, repr. (in colour).</p>
<p>On the back there is a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> of the foot of a tree with plants.</p>
<p>Exhibited in 1938 as having been painted in that year but listed in the catalogue of the exhibition of <i>Contemporary British Art</i>, Rosenberg and Helft, January–February 1937 (14), with a note saying that ‘owing to influenza Mr Paul Nash regrets that No.14 “<a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/l/landscape" title="Glossary definition for 'Landscape'"><span>Landscape</span></a> from a Dream” is unfinished and exhibits instead.... ’ An almost identical study in <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/w/watercolour" title="Glossary definition for 'Watercolour'"><span>watercolour</span></a> was exhibited at the Redfern Gallery, April–May 1937 (23), as of ‘1937’; it now belongs to Mrs Waters (repr. <i>Architects</i>
Journal, LXXXV, 1937, p.816).</p>
<p>The way in which the balls of dried grass echo the red sun may be compared with the juxtaposition of the two spheres in <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/nash-pillar-and-moon-n05392" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05392</span></a>, while the repetition of the motif by its reflection in a mirror recalls <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/nash-voyages-of-the-moon-n06024" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N06024</span></a>. The stone hawk, which is contrasted to the flying hawk seen in the mirror, was painted from an Egyptian carving now on the artist's grave.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, II
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-08T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY