Woman in Grief
- Artist: Uzo Egonu
- Date: 1968
- Medium: Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions: support: 482 x 1202 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is “Woman in Grief” by Uzo Egonu, painted in 1968 in London. The work is an oil on canvas that captures the shock of the Battles of Onitsha during the Biafran War. Egonu, who was born in Onitsha and left Nigeria at thirteen, watched the conflict unfold from afar, and the grief in this piece is both personal and collective. The composition centers on a single, large leg emerging from a cream background, with geometric lines suggesting the back of a woman bent in distress. The palette—cobalt blue, cream, and red—creates a stark, abstracted figure that feels like a memory of a life disrupted by war. The painting is part of the “Nigerian Modernism” show, highlighting how Egonu blended modernist techniques with memories of Nigeria. It invites viewers to feel the weight of loss and the resilience of those who lived through it.
See it in person
Woman in Grief 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.
