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The Memorial Day holiday falls on the last Friday of May each year, offering us the chance to pay our respects to the patriots who made the ultimate sacrifice in our names. It’s been celebrated since the years after the Civil War, with changing traditions through the years. Parades, public ceremonies, and laying floral tributes in military cemeteries have been ever popular, but commissioning Memorial Day art to honor a fallen loved one is growing in popularity.
Memorial Day art offers a powerful reminder of the human cost of keeping our country safe; the sacrifice of the brave men and women who serve in our armed forces. Since the earliest days, people have felt compelled to honor this sacrifice through works of art.
Some grieving loved ones buy keepsake pictures, helping them to remember their fallen loved one as they were. Others commission larger-scale works or contribute to collections for public works. These traditions stretch all the way back through the mists of time and as long as people are called to serve, there’s no reason to suppose that they’ll ever stop.
There is certainly something to be said for national memorials, such as the 60-foot-long statue commemorating those who gave their lives in World War One. That being said, remembering and reflecting on personal loss is usually done on a smaller scale. Memorial Day artwork gives us a creative way to do just that.
Memorial Day paintings come in all shapes and forms. The “greatest artistic expression of the day” was commissioned by the British Government to remember and pay honor to the fallen of the First World War, but not all Memorial Day artworks have to be on this scale.
For those of us commemorating the loss of a loved one, a more personal approach might make more sense. Digital artists can work from digitally submitted reference photos to carefully craft a customized painting of your fallen family member or friend, giving you a powerful memento.
These paintings can be hung in the home as part of a memorial corner, displayed at funerals or placed anywhere you want a reminder of your loved one, in or out of uniform.
These memorial canvases offer a personalized way to focus your remembrance of a loved one who paid the ultimate price.
An alternative to a more formal Memorial Day painting is creating a personalized poster showing the departed loved one. A particularly popular form of these posters involves editing the lost loved one into a photograph, bringing them into the moment in spirit.
These posters are particularly well-suited to include a fallen loved one who gave their life in military service and can be customized to suit many tastes. These customized posters can include a lost family member or friend in a variety of settings, but weddings and family gatherings are the most common choices, though you shouldn’t allow this to color your choices. These are innately personal memorials after all, and what you feel fits best is the important thing.
Getting this right can offer great comfort to those of us remembering a personal loss on Memorial Day, bringing the fallen soldier, sailor, or airman into those memories they couldn’t be there for in person. Don’t be afraid to reach out to your artist; they’ll understand that this is a deeply personal memorial and do their best to bring your memory to life.
A lovingly crafted portrait of a family member who gave their life in military service is always a fitting tribute. They’re suited not only to memorial services and funerals but can be hung in the home year-round to serve as a heartfelt memorial.
As a Memorial Day tribute, many grieving family members opt to have their fallen heroes depicted in full dress uniform, though this is a matter of taste and civilian dress is every bit as appropriate. This type of portrait lets you express more than just someone's appearance — it allows you to pour your feelings into the artwork.
The red, white, and blue American flag is a common patriotic choice, but it’s far from the only option.
These artworks stand as a fitting tribute to your departed loved one.
Perhaps one of the most famous paintings in the history of the USA, The Declaration of Independence is the ultimate patriotic image. It’s almost certainly recognizable to any school child in the country as it graces history books and classroom walls alike.
Commissioned in 1817, the famous painting by the renowned American artist John Turnbull has hung in the United States Capitol Rotunda since 1826 and shows not the signing, as often believed, but the drafting of one of the country’s most significant documents. This picture not only describes a pivotal moment in the history of the USA but, in showing the debate around the declaration, says something about the ideals it was founded on.
Shown are 42 of the 56 signatories of the Declaration of Independence and a few notable dissenters who attended the debates in the Continental Congress leading up to the start of the War of Independence. This inclusion is very purposeful; the notion of debate and representation is built into the very foundations of the country, and this is honored in no less a place than the Capitol building itself.
The image is perhaps the best-known artistic memorial in American history, having been featured on stamps and both the $100 and $2 bills. Today, it serves as a potent reminder of the sacrifices that the country was built on as well as the ideals that it holds dear.
Many military careers start with the soldier catching sight of a recruitment poster and feeling that it speaks to them. There have been many, many variations through the years, but the single most iconic has to be the truly iconic Uncle Sam posters by James Montgomery Flagg during World War One.
These posters followed on from a much older tradition of using personifications of the country in recruitment and propaganda posters. During the earliest days, Columbia (a female representation of the USA) played the part of Uncle Sam.
Other artworks harnessed into recruitment drives include patriotic images of soldiers, sailors, and airmen, often surrounded by symbols of the nation like flags and eagles. Alternatively, they might have brought a little humor into it, such as the Devil Dog Marines posters from World War Two,
Today, these classic images stand as powerful reminders of those who heard the call and paid the ultimate price.
There are two schools of thought on why someone should honor the fallen: the personal and the national.
On the national level, military service has guaranteed the freedoms that we all take for granted. These ideals have claimed the lives of countless servicemen and women since the foundation of the nation, and their sacrifice deserves to be marked. To this end, we have many grand works of public art and architecture memorializing the fallen of all wars.
Remembrance also gives us the chance to reflect on the reasons behind the wars we all too often find ourselves fighting. This encourages us to learn from history and, hopefully, avoid similar situations arising in the future.
On a personal level, remembering the lives of our lost loved ones is always going to be of huge importance, regardless of the reasons behind their deaths. Each lost soldier, airman, or sailor had a family, and their loss is made no easier by the knowledge that it was in service to some higher ideal. Remembering the human behind the statistics is always going to be important, not only for those who have sacrificed everything, but for those left behind to mourn.
Memorial Day art can serve as a powerful reminder of the sacrifice and heroism of our lost loved ones, whether it’s as part of a national memorial or a more personal tribute. Commissioning a personalized portrait is a heartfelt way of engaging in this tradition and paying your respects.
