Luc-Albert Moreau, Octobre 1917, attaque du Chemin des Dames (October 1917, Chemin des Dames Assault), 1917, ink, Musée d'Histoire Contemporaine - BDIC, Paris. © SESAM, Paris, 1998.

The death 888990 89 - Luc-Albert Moreau Moreau (1882-1948) fought at Verdun, on the Chemin des Dames and in Picardy. He was wounded several times, and was among those indelibly marked by the war, to such an extent that during the 1920s and 30s, his work was mostly made up of paintings of Verdun, memories that he evoked tirelessly from drawings sketched whilst on the front. This particular drawing of a body impaled on a tree trunk broken by shells is effective through its simplicity and powerful hatching. We find the same scene the horror of which was also captured on photograph. Recognisable too is one aspect remarked on by Léger - the force of expression in the hands with the outstretched fingers in a tense spasm.