Landschaft Mit Badenden 1915

Otto Mueller made this painting, "Landschaft Mit Badenden" or "Landscape with Bathers," sometime in the early 20th century. Look how he’s brushed the pigment to create this hazy and dreamlike vision of nude bathers. It's all about the sensation of painting, the joy of seeing what the material can do. You can almost feel the matte surface of the paint, can’t you? It’s applied thinly, in flat, opaque layers, like distemper. See that lone figure wading into the water? The gesture is so simple, the lines so direct, yet it conveys so much about form and movement. The dark lines give it definition, but the overall softness of the paint creates a feeling of serenity. It reminds me of Paula Modersohn-Becker's simplified forms and earthy tones, that focus on essential forms rather than details. Mueller captures something elemental here. His paintings embrace ambiguity and multiple interpretations. What do you see?