SPOKEN STATE - United Kingdom
Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat
Winston Churchill · 1940
The Work
MEDIUM
Acrylic on Dibond aluminium
DIMENSIONS
915 × 548 mm (3:5 ratio)
COLOURS
Cadmium Red (Hue), Ultramarine Blue, Titanium White
SPEECH
Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat, 1940
SPEAKER
Winston Churchill
LOCATION
House of Commons, Westminster, London
About the flag
The Union Jack — combining the crosses of St George (England), St Andrew (Scotland), and St Patrick (Ireland)
Historical Context
The moment: Churchill's first speech as Prime Minister, May 13, 1940 — three days after Nazi Germany began its invasion of Western Europe
On May 10, 1940 — the same day Germany launched its devastating Blitzkrieg through the Low Countries — Winston Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Britain stood virtually alone against Nazi Germany.
Three days later, Churchill addressed the House of Commons for the first time as Prime Minister. His opening speech is one of the most celebrated in the English language: a blunt, unsparing statement of the scale of the crisis and an equally blunt statement of what he had to offer — nothing but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.
The speech set the tone for Churchill's entire wartime leadership: no false comfort, no evasion, absolute clarity about the stakes, and an almost mystical confidence in ultimate victory. It helped galvanise not just Parliament but, through radio broadcast, the entire British population.
The Union Jack itself carries the weight of empire and its contradictions — including the suppression of Irish, Indian, and countless other peoples. Placing Churchill's words within the flag places that complexity at the centre of the work.
The Speech
"I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this government: I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering."
Context
Winston Churchill, House of Commons, Westminster, May 13, 1940. Delivered three days after Churchill became Prime Minister and three days after Germany invaded France and the Low Countries. Broadcast on BBC radio the same evening.
Churchill — Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat (1940 recording)
Winston Churchill: The Lion’s Roar | Historical Documentary
Process
Each Spoken State work begins with the speech. The text is transcribed, counted, and mapped to the geometry of the flag — word by word, colour field by colour field — before a single brushstroke is made.
1. The Aluminium Dibond is sized to the width of McGinty’s 30 year old T Square. The surface is lightly sanded, primed and 4 coats of gesso with a final two coats of Titanium White to create the the surface on which to work. The Surface becomes a drawing board.
2. Using a T-Square and pencil the Union Jack's complex geometry — overlapping crosses at different angles — required careful mapping of the speech text across asymmetric colour fields.
2. The red cross of St George, the diagonal blue and white of St Andrew, and the diagonal red of St Patrick create seven distinct colour zones, each requiring independent text flow.
3. Churchill's words were distributed across all zones so no single phrase dominates — the flag reads as a unified whole before resolving into language.
Limited Edition Prints
The Original Flag Painting is scanned using a museum quality, high resolution Cruse scanner.
Limited edition museum quality archival prints are available, signed and numbered by the artist.
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