The Sitting Room

Editor: We're looking at Frank Auerbach's "The Sitting Room" from the Tate collection. It's awash with thick impasto. I'm struck by how the texture seems to almost dissolve the forms. What is your take on it? Curator: Notice how Auerbach uses a limited palette to construct spatial relationships. The application of paint is so vigorous, yet the composition holds. Does the density of the pigment suggest a particular emotional register to you? Editor: I see how the density could suggest a stifled, perhaps claustrophobic feeling. The red hues amplify that. Curator: Precisely. Auerbach’s manipulation of the medium transforms the mundane into something intensely felt. The materiality itself becomes the subject. Editor: I hadn't considered the materiality so directly. Thank you. Curator: A closer look reveals how form arises from pure chromatic and textural exploration. Fascinating.