Porträtkopf Kronprinz Rupprecht von Bayern 1939

Karl Anton Reichel made this painting, "Porträtkopf Kronprinz Rupprecht von Bayern," with oil on canvas, and it feels like a dreamscape. The canvas glows with muted shades of brown, orange, and burgundy, and there are two figures set in the foreground of a landscape. You can imagine the artist, Reichel, layering the paint, coaxing the figures out of the ground. You might think of him, his face close to the canvas, moving backward and forward, figuring it out as he goes. The paint isn’t too thick, but you can see how he allows himself to be imprecise, as if searching for a likeness rather than making a declaration. The figure on the left is drawn with fine lines and precise contouring. It makes me think of Symbolist paintings where the artist focuses on capturing a feeling. And then the odd landscape in the background! Painters have always looked at each other’s work, riffing off it, answering back, starting new conversations. In this painting, Reichel is looking both back and forward.