Paul Nash (1889-1946) was a British surrealist painter and war artist, as well as a photographer, writer and designer of applied art. Nash was among the most important landscape artists of the first half of the twentieth century. He played a key role in the development of Modernism in English art.

This is a framed colour drawing on paper showing a view of the Avon Gorge and Clifton Suspension bridge with, to the left, the Observatory. This appears to be a preparatory sketch with occasional colour notations.

Paul Nash visited Bristol in 1939 to carry out research on the Clifton Suspension bridge for an article in the Architectural Review, when he also made a series of drawings including this one. He referred to the bridge as the ''Giant's stride'' because of the way its spanned the leap across the Avon Gorge.