RAF Hurricanes In Flight, WW2 

Eric Ravilious made this watercolour called, RAF Hurricanes In Flight, during World War II. The painting is composed of a striking juxtaposition of textures and perspectives. The wings of the plane in the foreground dominate the visual field, their geometric forms rendered with meticulous detail. A sense of depth is achieved through the contrast between the close-up view of the aircraft’s structure and the distant, almost abstract landscape. The soft washes of colour in the sky and fields create a quiet backdrop to the mechanical precision of the planes. The composition destabilizes traditional notions of aerial perspective. Ravilious presents us with a multilayered viewpoint that challenges fixed positions. The semiotic interplay between the natural and the mechanical reflects the shifting cultural landscape of wartime Britain. The painting invites us to consider how the visual language of modernism was used to negotiate the complex realities of the time.