December 31, 1937, 8.00pm (Oompah)
- Artist: Reuben Mednikoff
- Date: 1937
- Medium: Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions: support: 510 x 765 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
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About this artwork
This is “December 31, 1937, 8.00pm (Oompah)” by Reuben Mednikoff. The oil on canvas is laid out in a landscape frame, split by a jagged white line. On the right two‑thirds is a flat yellow field, the left third a deep blue‑green. Against the yellow we see a semi‑naked torso, breasts exposed under a white chemise, with the right thigh clothed in a snug dark fabric. Balancing on that thigh is a red sprite—almost childlike—tied with a white band. A long, pointed phallus protrudes from the chemise, and the sprite’s thin arms clutch the woman’s breast, while its head arches back, droplets of milk hanging above its mouth. The composition is stark, almost shocking, yet it’s a deliberate play on the mother‑child dynamic that Mednikoff explored in his surrealist work. He often named pieces by the date they were made, and this painting was created while he lived in Cornwall with partner Grace Pailthorpe, a fellow surrealist deeply involved in psychoanalysis. The image pushes the boundary between the uncanny and the familiar, making us confront our unconscious ideas of birth, nourishment and the psychological underpinnings of desire. It was shown in a 1939 London exhibition and remains a striking example of British surrealism’s willingness to push the limits of representation.
See it in person
December 31, 1937, 8.00pm (Oompah) is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, 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.
