Stage design for 'The Phantom' of Hermann Bahr 1913

Koloman Moser designed this stage set for Hermann Bahr's 'The Phantom', and it feels like he did it with a box of crayons. The purple, the gold trim, the bizarrely placed furniture - it’s all a bit much, but somehow it hangs together. I imagine Moser, wrestling with the demands of the play, trying to create a space that’s both believable and theatrical. The colours are saturated, but the marks are loose and sketchy, giving the whole thing a kind of provisional quality. It's like he’s thinking out loud with his materials. It reminds me of those moments in painting when you’re trying to capture a feeling or an atmosphere, and you’re not quite sure how to get there, so you just keep layering and adjusting, hoping that something will eventually click. Maybe that's what set design is like. And, like painting, each choice you make influences the next. You're always in dialogue with what’s come before, both your own work and the work of others.