War is an ugly thing. A collective of stains that mark our history books with their horrors. And yet, for as long as can be recalled, where there has been war, so too has art followed. There's always been a morbid artistic appeal to conflict, calling artists from all eras of history to focus on this facet of human existence and work to represent every aspect of it. From the glories of victory to the abhorrence of human suffering, art has proved itself the ideal outlet in humanity's quest for expression. Today, we dive into a retrospective collection of art pieces that have accompanied history's most infamous wars. Our focus remains on the enduring role of art in portraying armed conflict and how this role has mutated over the centuries. 

From the beginning, the power of art—its ability to convey a strong message—is recognized by those at the helm of power. In ancient times, the right to produce art was reserved almost exclusively for the elite, who commissioned great artwork to commemorate victories and inscribe key events into their kingdoms' histories. One early example of this is the relief etched on the walls of Ramesses III's mortuary temple, depicting his victory over the invading "Sea Peoples" at the battle of the Delta, circa 1175 B.C.E. The piece serves a multitude of purposes: it embodies a sense of national pride, portraying a sweeping victory for the Egyptians, while allowing Pharaoh to control the strings of the narrative presented to civilians, portraying a strong nation, capable of defending against all enemies. Moving forward, art will long be used for such purposes, a fact that has yet to change even today.

As art becomes a more accessible medium, notions of freedom of expression and preservation of history begin to encapsulate artistic production, especially when it comes to war. The Bayeux Tapestry, commissioned around the 1070s C.E. and depicting William of Normandy's conquest of England in 1066, is a behemoth of Romanesque art and stands as a monument to memory, fastidiously preserving the tale of the Norman conquest and cementing art's place in the making of history. A few centuries down the line, in 1572, at the height of the Renaissance, François Dubois paints the sole surviving depiction of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, a terrible episode from the French wars of religion. The painting depicts the event in the harrowing accuracy of the Renaissance art style and echoes with the deep trauma it caused, along with the wish to preserve its memory, perhaps to use as a cautionary tale for future generations. Rather than observing a piece of glorious memorabilia, we see in Dubois' painting a shift in perspective, as art begins to convey the turmoil of war, portraying it in a negative light, even if it still bears the mark of some political influence.

Moving further into the future, we arrive at the late 19th and early 20th centuries and a world entirely altered by a consecutive wave of revolutions, be they political or technological. Their wars operate on a new rulebook, dictated by such advances. In this era of great social emancipation, fine art is beginning to concretely liberate itself from the confines of political influence, and the art of war takes on a new purpose: to voice the will, views, and opinions of the people making it, to preserve individual memory as well as collective memory. Art becomes the civilian's weapon of choice when many feel as though their governments are failing them. From this era, countless examples can be cited, but our attention can especially be drawn to the art produced post-WW1 by artists from the expressionist movement, such as Otto Dix. His painting titled "The Skat Players" tackles themes of brutality, physical injury, and human suffering head-on by portraying three veterans of war with debilitating disabilities gained during combat. 

Art has known a steady growth in methods, themes, and variety, and it continues to progress today. Its use in modern warfare has all but increased, with modern technology and platforms of research and media now making it easier than ever to develop and share one's artistic vision. At its core, the role of art today remains ever the same: conveying a message. And in today's political scene, some art pieces can be powerful enough to turn the artists painting them into popular icons and, in some cases, into targets. In no clearer way can this be observed than in contemporary conflicts in the Middle East, especially the Levant. 

In this light, we end our retrospective journey with two contemporary artists whose work reflects on the harrows of the waves of conflict that have gripped the Middle East since the mid-20th century. Taghreed Dargouth and Mazen Kerbaj, both modern Lebanese artists, offer us two very different views of the wars that have opposed Lebanon to Israel in the past 20 years. Whereas Kerbaj's art speaks to the absurdity of conflict, portraying the realities of everyday warfare in a satirical, almost comical light that still speaks to our experiences to this day, Dargouth's pieces offer more sober, more expressive glimpses into singular aspects of the world of warfare. Her gut-wrenching series of mushroom cloud paintings entitled "Brighter than a Thousand Suns," though not exactly recent, can still resonate with many today, as it recalls scenes of destruction recently witnessed closer than ever to home.