'The Strafing' on the List of Masterpieces (topstukkenlijst)

The painting, The Strafing by Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson from 1916, out of the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, is one of the provisionally added works of art. Nevinson is a key figure in the British history of art from the 20th Century. After the outbreak of the First World War, he signed up as a volunteer in the Friends Ambulance Service and worked in places such as Dunkerque, Woesten and Saint-Pierre. On the front lines, he was confronted with the inhumane circumstances in the trenches. Nevinson returned to London and frenetically painted a series of war paintings. In 1916, he collected these works into a highly talked-about exhibition. The Strafing was also to be seen there. The title is an English term whereby an aerial attack is ordered for targets on the ground by low-flying aircraft. With paintings such as The Strafing, the artist gave a modern means of expression to a new type of war, a war in which for the first time, humans were subordinate to the machine. The Strafing is the only work of Nevinson in Flemish possession.

The List of Masterpieces contains moveable cultural heritage of the Flemish Community that benefit from a special protection. Cultural goods on the List of Masterpieces are viewed as rare an indispensible for the Flemish Community.