The Silence, 1965

Carel Weight RA (1908 - 1997)

RA Collection: Art

Set in his garden in Wandsworth, Weight’s Diploma work depicts three people observing the two minutes silence on Remembrance Sunday. The artist explained that he always found this silence very eerie, when everything went quiet except sounds like a dog barking. This painting addresses the theme of human isolation, which is central to Weight’s work. He wished it to convey his belief that although people join to perform identical rituals they are essentially solitary individuals. To emphasise this, the three figures never met and were painted separately.

Weight trained at Hammersmith School of Art and Goldsmiths’ College. During the Second World War he was an official war artist in Italy. He subsequently taught at the Royal College of Art becoming Professor of Painting there in 1957.