Mark Gertler painted Merry-Go-Round in 1916-17. The work was exhibited at the Mansard Gallery in London from April to May 1917 as part of the 'London Group'. A committed pacifist, Gertler used the painting to denounce the war and refused to enlist. He himself described it as “a large and very unsaleable picture of Merry-Go-Round,” on which he was “working very hard.”

The painting made a powerful impression on his contemporaries. His friend D. H. Lawrence called it “the best modern picture I have seen: I think it is great and true.” Critics responded enthusiastically as well. In the Evening News (London) on 27 April 1917, Arthur Machen published a review titled “The Man Who Has Painted a Noise,” capturing the work’s visceral intensity.

Here, Dora Carrington 'likes' Merry-Go-Round. Though her personal relationship with Gertler was fraught: he pursued her for many years, and while they had a brief affair during the First World War, his love for her ultimately remained unrequited.

Virginia Woolf held ambivalent views of Gertler, describing him as “an immense egoist,” yet conceding that he was “well worth talking to,” possessed of “amazing quickness.”

Mark's Merry Go Round, 2025, Acrylic on canvas, 45" x 34" (114 x 86 cm)