The painting depicts a host of ghostly soldiers marching across a field in front of the Menin Gate war memorial.

[2] Longstaff painted the work after attending the unveiling of the Menin Gate memorial, at Ypres in Belgium, on 24 July 1927.

The memorial commemorated those men of the British Empire, including Australia, who died in the battles of the First World War and have no known grave.

Walking around the streets of Ypres after the ceremony, Longstaff was said to have seen a "vision of steel-helmeted spirits rising from the moonlit cornfields around him".

[1] The success of this work led Longstaff to paint three later companion pieces with a similar ghostly, spiritualist theme as can be seen below:[1]