Polperro I, 1939-40 (oil on canvas)

After having fled to London from Prague on the eve of World War II, Kokoschka settled briefly in the Cornish fishing village of Polperro. His work was becoming increasingly political at this time often incorporating symbolic and allegorical elements. Here, the view of a fishing boat sheltering in a harbour includes (at the lower right corner) the unsettling detail of a woman mourning over a prostrate body.Another unexpected feature is the over-sized crab in the foreground. Kokoschka saw this creature as a monster representing disaster. Its eerie distortion in an otherwise picturesque image may be an indication of the artist’s growing sense of unease in 1939.