Brushstrokes from the Front Lines

Marking the 80th anniversary of VE Day, this pop-up exhibition presented by the British Red Cross shows the powerful work of the war artist and volunteer nurse Doris Zinkeisen. 

Working with the Red Cross, Doris Zinkeisen was the first painter to enter the notorious Bergen-Belsen concentration camp after it was liberated from the Nazis by the British Army in 1945. She was commissioned as an artist to record what she saw for the British public, who in an age before TV relied on photographs, paintings and illustrations.

A talented artist and dedicated humanitarian, Doris also worked as a volunteer army nurse, caring for returning soldiers injured on the front during World War I and for those wounded in the Blitz during World War II. Through her nursing work she also continued to capture images of the effects of war in her canvases, and her artworks carry an evocative depiction of the moments of humanity amidst the devastation of war.

Images from modern-day crises are also on show in this exhibition, alongside Zinkeisen’s portrayals from the Second World War, inviting visitors to reflect on the power of humanity and compassion in the worst of times.