Landscape from a Dream

Profile of artist Paul Nash, who was fascinated by the atmosphere of places and the surreal aspects of landscape.

Profile of artist Paul Nash, who was fascinated by the atmosphere of places and the surreal aspects of landscape. His words vividly convey his fascination with landscape and what he describes as the 'genius loci', the spirit of the place which he aims to capture in his paintings.

The film covers his early development as an artist, showing some of the places which stimulated his imagination, and his paintings of the devastated battlefields of the First World War. It goes on to explain the philosophy behind his later paintings, including those from the Second World War. Nash speaks of the personal significance of the inanimate object, his wish to 'imagine' rather than 'interpret' nature, and his interest in surrealism and photography. Rejecting total abstraction and concentrating instead on representing the dramatic qualities of a landscape - a scene at night, a picture of standing stones at Avebury or a pile of crashed planes - Nash emphasises the power of his art to "call up memories and stir emotions in the spectator. Part of the Arts Council England collection.