Yperite - Jan Theuninck, 2004

acrylic on canvas - 2004

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Yperite

late at night

a mist

fills the valley

without knowing

it suffocates

like a dark power

on the fields

our dead bodies

and under the grass

a brown soil

© by Jan Theuninck

--------------------------------------------------------------------

This painting by Jan Theuninck depicts the terror, caused by chemical warfare, and the thousands of deaths on the battlefields. The painting is an anti-war statement and a symbol of peace - 2004, acrylic on canvas, 70 x 100 cm.

Displayed in exhibitions like those at the Vredesmuseum Nederland (Peace Museum Netherlands), it commemorates the first large-scale use of chemical weapons during WWI. Yperite (the Belgian/Dutch term for mustard gas, named after Ypres) was infamously deployed by German forces in 1917 near Ypres, causing agonizing deaths for thousands of Allied soldiers.

Metaphorical InterpretationTheuninck's Yperite is profoundly metaphorical, transforming a specific historical atrocity into a timeless symbol of human-induced devastation. Metaphorically, it stands for the "invisible poisons" of modern conflict: not just chemical agents, but ideological toxins like propaganda, nationalism, and dehumanization that erode societies from within. Theuninck, a pacifist, uses this to indict all forms of warfare, echoing his broader oeuvre on WWI and the Holocaust.

Corrosion of Humanity and Memory:

The painting's monochrome palette and abstract dissolution metaphorically depict how war "dissolves" identity and history. It symbolizes the slow, insidious corruption of the human spirit, much like how gas lingers in the soil of Flanders fields. For Theuninck, born in a region scarred by trenches, this is a personal metaphor for inherited trauma: the battlefield's mud becomes a canvas for forgotten victims, urging viewers to confront suppressed memories of violence

Anti-War Symbol and Call for Peace: 

Yperite functions as an "anti-war statement and a symbol of peace". Its abstraction metaphorically contrasts destruction with the potential for renewal—white voids hint at absence (death, loss), but the color intrusions suggest defiant life force. Theuninck extends this to broader metaphors in his poetry and essays, linking WWI gas attacks to modern "viruses" like terrorism, surveillance states, and ecological collapse (as seen in related works like Virus Attack / Terror). In this vein, the painting warns of recurring cycles: just as yperite scarred a generation, unchecked aggression poisons the future.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.forumeerstewereldoorlog.nl/wiki/index.php/Yperite-Jan_Theuninck
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ypérite_(Theuninck)

https://www.vredesmuseum.nl/galerie/wargasm.php
https://charterforcompassion.org/belgium
https://lexia.com.ar/Jan%20Theuninck.htm


Belgian Poststamps (2023)



-----------------------------------------------------------------------

in Viff-flash april/mei/juni 2014 (In Flanders Fields Museum)

https://www.inflandersfields.be/images/filelib/VIFFflash502014_3408.pdf
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Yperite
~de Jan Theuninck (Belgia)~
(in romaneste de Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)

tarziu in noapte
o ceatza
umple valea.
fara sa stie
ea se sufoca
precum o putere intunecata.
pe campuri
trupurile noastre moarte
iar sub iarba
pamant cafeniu 

タイヌ・コット

あなたたちが

戦地へ向かった時

生きている

ヒーローだった

でも今は

ケシの花が

散る

丘の上に

いる

vertaald door Tomoko Nagase

 Yperiet

‘s avonds laat

vult een  mist

de vallei

zonder te beseffen

verstikt hij ons

als een duistere  macht

op de velden

liggen onze lijken

en onder het gras

een bruine aarde.

© by Jan Theuninck

Ypérite

tard le soir

un brouillard

commence à remplir

la vallée

Sans le savoir

il nous étouffe

et nous étrangle

comme un pouvoir

occulte

Sur les champs

restent nos cadavres

et sous le vert

de nos plaines

une terre brune

© by Jan Theuninck

 Iprite

tardi la sera

una nebbia

riempie la valle

senza sapere

soffoca

come una forza scura

sui campi

i nostri cadaveri

e sotto l'erba

una terra bruna

© by Jan Theuninck

YPRES  - Prof. György Novak fordításában

késõ éjszaka
köd
lepi a völgyet.
öntudatlanul
fojtón,
mint sötét erõ.
a mezõkön
tetemeink
a fû alatt
barna föld.

Yperit

spät am Abend

ein Nebel

füllt das Tal

ohne zu wissen

erstickt er

wie eine dunkle Macht

auf dem Felde

unsere Leichen

und unter dem Gras

eine braune Erde

© by Jan Theuninck

https://www.cipherjournal.com/html/theuninck.html