Deification of a Soldier
- Artist: Kikuji Yamashita
- Date: 1967
- Medium: Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions: support: 1310 x 1950 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
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About this artwork
This is the “Deification of a Soldier” by Kikuji Yamashita, painted in 1967. On a vast canvas, the artist layers thin, translucent strokes in a muted grey palette, letting strange forms bleed into one another. The eye is drawn to a two‑headed horse, one head sporting zebra‑like stripes, the other wearing a bridle— a visual clash between wildness and domestication. From its necks sprout limbs and ghoulish faces, teeth jutting from the base like a nightmare. A skull and a dove, both donning military helmets, hover above a soldier in a generic red uniform, hinting at the Vietnam conflict that was raging at the time. The scene feels chaotic, almost violent, with screaming mouths and distorted animal figures, echoing Yamashita’s own wartime memories as a conscript in the Imperial Japanese army. The title suggests a divine reverence for the fallen, yet the imagery subverts it, exposing war’s absurdity and cruelty. The painting sits at the crossroads of surrealism and social critique, a powerful reminder of how art can confront trauma.
See it in person
Deification of a Soldier is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
