Black Flags 1939

Walter Kurt Wiemken made this oil painting, Black Flags, with a muted palette and a somber mood. I feel like he must have been dealing with some heavy stuff! The paint looks thinly applied in layers, almost like a watercolor in places, particularly in the background. Wiemken is giving us a strange scene: two figures on what looks like a stage, holding masks, under a menacing black cloud. It's eerie, right? I wonder about the conversations he was having with other artists at the time. It reminds me a bit of Beckmann, but more raw, more immediate. Maybe Wiemken was trying to capture something about the theater of life, the masks we wear, and the darkness that can overshadow everything. It's like he's saying, "Hey, we're all just acting, but watch out for that big black flag!" It's a powerful image, full of ambiguity, and that’s what makes it so compelling.