A wartime oil painting, Bomb Store No.3, depicting the underground bomb store at RAF Fauld in Tutbury near Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire by British artist David Bomberg (1890-1957) will be sold at Bonhams, London, as part of its 20th Century British Art sale.
The work is expected to bring £150,000-200,000 when it auctions on June 30.
Having spent three years repeatedly applying to the War Artist's Advisory Committee (WAAC) to be a war artist, Bomberg was eventually commissioned to paint the bomb store for 25 guineas in February 1942.
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David Bomberg’s Bomb Store No 3 (Click to enlarge)
He spent two weeks 90 feet below ground in a disused gypsum mine, where 10,000 tons of bombs were stored in anticipation of future air raids on German cities.
"I was a bit fearful when I learned David not only got lost among the bombs, but I knew how curiously he climbed, slithered and slid among and over the piles to get the angle and form of interest," his wife Lilian commented afterwards.
Two years later in November 1944, RAF Fauld accidentally blew up killing 68 people, with tremors felt as far away as Rome.
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