Evan Charlton was closely associated with Eric Ravilious and Edward Bawden, a virtuoso at capturing everyday scenes and little details from English provincial life. This work (1944) depicts a couple of 'canal girls,' who transported vital goods on the canal system during WW2.
17th century Dutch painter Cornelis Kick’s still-life of a lemon and pink roses on a pewter plate contrasts the colours of epehemeral life with a timeless dark background (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford)
'The Lighthouse,' (1939) is made surreal by its stillness; during the interwar years stillness blocked out any return to impressionism. It is a scene (despite the clear blue sky) that appears more stagelit than sunlit.