Obersdorfi maastik 1922

Editor: This is Konrad Mägi’s "Obersdorfi maastik," painted in 1922, and it appears to be oil on canvas. I'm struck by the vivid, almost unnatural colors. What can you tell me about this work? Curator: The unnatural colours immediately position the painting in the realm of expressionism and post-impressionism. Considering the time and place, Mägi was painting in a period defined by widespread societal change. His Fauvist leanings here—with the intense, non-naturalistic colours—reflect a desire to express inner emotional states rather than accurately depict the external world. The landscape becomes a vehicle for expressing a subjective reality. What do you make of the impasto technique, the thick application of paint? Editor: It definitely adds texture and depth. Is the landscape itself significant, beyond just being a landscape? Curator: Absolutely. We need to think about what landscape traditionally represents. Often, it’s linked to national identity and a sense of belonging. Considering Mägi was Estonian painting a landscape with Germanic name in a turbulent Europe, we should ask ourselves if the landscape serves as a kind of commentary on belonging and displacement. Are those mountains looming as a sense of oppression, or something else? The thickly applied brushstrokes might be mirroring something deeper: the intense labour that reshaped European society in those times. Do you see anything else at play here? Editor: I didn't think of that, I suppose, now that you mention the name I recognize that I simply read the work as "landscape." Thinking more critically about displacement changes my entire perception. Thank you. Curator: Thinking about art as part of the larger political and social landscapes can open up new ways of looking at historical creative works. We must never consider any artwork outside the total context that creates it.