Traveller In The Snow 1908

Julius Sergius Klever painted 'Traveller In The Snow' with oil paint, and though we don't know exactly when, you get the feeling the painting came together quite quickly, intuitively, as an immediate response. The artist applies the paint in a way that feels gestural and expressive. Look at the surfaces of the trees and the snow, the paint is thickly applied with a palette knife giving the surface a sculptural texture. The color palette is subdued, and earthy - mostly browns, grays, and whites. See the way the light hits the bark? It's like he's sculpting it with paint! This physicality of the medium brings a tactile quality to the piece, inviting the viewer to almost reach out and touch the painting. Now, think of Caspar David Friedrich, a fellow wanderer, who painted the sublime grandeur of nature. But here, Klever gives us something more intimate, a quiet moment in a snowy landscape, like a scene from a half-remembered dream. Art, after all, is about embracing the possibilities, the spaces in between, and the conversations that never really end.