Duncan Grant

This was painted in the summer of 1911 as part of a decorative scheme for the dining room at the Borough Polytechnic, London. The theme was ‘London on Holiday’, and Grant responded by painting this idealised panorama of seven male nudes bathing. The nudes also represented the continuous movement of a single figure. Grant’s design was inspired by Michelangelo’s male nudes and summers spent at the Serpentine in Hyde Park, which was a site associated with London’s gay culture. Bathing was seen as controversial at the time it was painted, due to its homoerotic implications.