Edward Burra

Fabulous exhibition at Tate Britain of work by Edward Burra.

Burra’s career summed up the early 20th century both in terms of style and subject and this was carefully teased out over six rooms, starting with the vibrant works of the 1920s and a young man discovering himself, through the despair of the Spanish Civil War and Second World War expressed via the surreal, to the relative tranquillity of the post-war years but reflecting a changed world through landscape.

My favourite pieces were the early ones showing groups of people in clubs in Paris and New York. You could almost hear the music pumping out of them. Shown with a selection of archive material you got a view of a group of friends enjoying life. I particularly like the pictures of Harlem.

He seemed to move suddenly into the surreal with his encounter with violence in Spain before the Civil War. These works were brutal yet drew on some of the earlier imagery. 

I liked the inclusion of a room on his theatrical work with costume and set designs mainly for ballet and opera.

The later landscapes, painted as his health failed, seemed to subvert the famous Shell posters even incorporating petrol stations reminding me of Ed Ruscha. I liked the mix of the sublime and the surreal. 

Closes 19 October 2025


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