Like many artists of his generation, Smart was drawn to the poetry of the twentieth century poet TS Eliot and his evocations of the modern world. He began by reading Eliot’s Preludes (1910–11), inspired by the idea that seemingly ordinary things could make great subjects. His painting The wasteland takes its title from Eliot’s 1922 epic poem. Widely regarded as one of the most influential poems of the twentieth century, 'The Waste Land' brought together a variety of quotations, languages and phrases, collaged together as though overheard while tuning a radio.