Blaue Magnolie 1929

Christian Rohlfs painted this unnamed picture of a blue magnolia probably around the 1910s. I love how he's gone straight in, using what looks like watercolour or gouache, applying the paint in these short, urgent strokes, with very little blending. You can really feel that process. The colours are so interesting - it's called 'Blue Magnolia' but actually, there's so much more happening than just blue! The browns and greens in the background, the way the white of the flower is offset with dabs of contrasting colour. This all gives the image a kind of shimmering vibrancy, doesn't it? Look at that dark blob in the centre of the flower, how that pulls the whole thing together. It's so physical. It makes me think of Emil Nolde, and maybe even further back to Van Gogh - though Rohlfs is doing something very unique here. I love the way he balances representation and abstraction, never quite letting us settle on one fixed idea of what we're looking at.