Doreen Fletcher

Dick Ket is best known as an artist of meticulously painted still lifes and portraits. These appeared after 1930 after he had suffered a heart attack which meant he moved around very little and painted from his studio.

Christopher Wood was fond of flowers as a subject, and this painting from 1925 (influenced by van Gogh) shows a degree of maturity by which his pictures from this period were characterised. This work also reveals his understanding of colour and harmony.

'Imperial War Museum.' (1967) Euan Uglow's contribution to British art was as radical and experimental as any celebrated post-war artist. The ideas he pursued had nothing to do with language but what he said was: 'controlled, potent emotion.'

'On the Banks of the Aumance River.' (1874) Although he was interested in depicting the real world, Henri Harpignies never became a realist in the style of the Barbizon group of painters. His landscapes were more inspired by the work of Corot, Claude, and Nicolas Poussin.

In 'City Roofs,' (1932) Edward Hopper's earnest and slightly romantic representation of a seemingly mundane subject matter set him apart from his contemporaries and allowed him to create a new and uniquely American iconography.

In 'The Red Room, Etretat,' (1899) Felix Vallotton depicts his wife Gabrielle sitting in a chair, while their niece on the floor tears up a piece of paper. As usual with Vallotton, he's left us an inscrutable picture with a long list of possible narratives.

During WW2,Stephen Bone served as a civilian camouflage officer and later as an Official War Artist attached to the Royal Navy. This work from 1931 depicts the floodlighting of St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London and St Bride's Church, Fleet Street, in peacetime.

Christopher Nevinson said of this work depicting Manhattan (1920) 'The painting directs us into the unknown, and there are no brakes... this painting forces us to confront it and not look away: welcome to your future at a thousand miles an hour, make of it what you will.'