Stilleben 1947

Jakob Weidemann made this oil painting, "Stilleben," with a brushy and intuitive approach. The thick paint and visible brushstrokes are really what strike me here; they show how much Weidemann reveled in the sheer physicality of the medium. Look at the textures he conjures! The blues and blacks layered so heavily, like some kind of stormy night. Then you have the lighter colours making sharp contrast, punctuating the darkness. There's a certain section, towards the lower left, where a figure seems to be emerging from the gloom. Or maybe it's a table, or a strange plant? But there's something about those stripes and the way they break up the space that feels both chaotic and deliberate. In a way, this reminds me of some of Guston’s later paintings, not in terms of style, but in the sense of raw, expressive energy. It's a great example of how an artist can use abstraction to explore the depths of feeling and experience.