Auseinandersetzung c. 1930

Karl Wiener's 'Auseinandersetzung' is an intimate exchange, painted with a brush full of feeling. I can almost feel the weight of the artist’s hand, the way the paint has been dragged and daubed across the surface to bring these figures to life. You can sense the tension in the air, in the way the figures are cropped into the frame. The painting feels like a scene from a play. The man in the yellow coat has his back to us, so his face is hidden. But his body language speaks volumes! Is he trying to calm things down? The brushstrokes are pretty raw – a little crude, even. But that's what I like about it! It feels real and alive, like a moment snatched from the chaos of life. I can imagine the artist feeling caught between different perspectives, trying to make sense of the human drama unfolding before him. And now, almost a century later, we get to see it too.