Tower Bridge, London

Oskar Kokoschka's first visit to London in July 1925 was brief: he stayed for about ten days, and could finish only one painting, Tower Bridge , because fog obscured the view. Despite the weather he found the historic city stimulating. He wrote later: London was still a mother city as the ancient Greek cities had been, from which a surplus population had spread out over the world. Merchandise from many nations was shipped up the Thames. Kokoschka's vigorous brushstrokes convey the vitality of the port and the sense of pulsating activity along the wharves. The manner of Kokoschka's application of paint, and his liberal politics, drew the attention of the Nazi government, with the result that Tower Bridge has the distinction of having been confiscated by the Nazis from the Kunsthalle, Hamburg, and sold in what was termed a degenerate art sale in Lucerne in June, 1939.