Memorial Day: Singer-Sargent's "Gassed."

For the Memorial Day here in the U.S.: John Singer Sargent, world-famous for his portraits of  daughters of the wealthy, developed late in life a more socially conscious subject. This haunting painting of soliders blinded by mustard gas in the carnage of WWI de-glorifies war and marks the horrific sacrifice of the soldiers, evoking as well the blindness of war-making. (Be sure to click through to the large image.) This work is in the Imperial War Museum. 

A contemporary version is here in the NYT, Michael Fay's sketches of wounded American soldiers in the hospital. If you haven't read the essays, I recommend them. Not only evocative and powerful, but it is an excellent example of the way painting from life expands how you think.