The Terms of the Armistice, 3rd and 4th November, 1918

What it is

This is a painting by Herbert Arnould Olivier. It shows a formal meeting in an ornate, wood-panelled room at the palace at Versailles, where senior military officers and politicians sit around a long table draped in red cloth. A large chandelier hangs above them. The work depicts the armistice terms settled on 3 and 4 November 1918. The Imperial War Museum holds it.

Why it matters

The armistice ended fighting on the Western Front in 1918. Its terms were worked out by the Allied leaders, and Georges Clemenceau, as French Prime Minister, was one of them. Because the scene was painted later, it presents the meeting as an artist chose to show it, not as a photograph would. It helps students see how the victors wanted their role remembered.

Look closer

• Who is standing and who is seated, and what does the arrangement of the figures suggest about their status?
• Why might a painter choose a formal, decorated room rather than a battlefield for a scene about the end of the war?
• What might this image leave out about the people who were not in the room?