Liebespaar 1925

Otto Mueller made this painting, Liebespaar, most likely in the 1920’s, and you can see the colours laid down with a kind of soft directness, that comes from using distemper on canvas. The process is right there on the surface. It's interesting how Mueller builds form with colour rather than line. Look at the man's blue shirt, how the strokes of pigment create volume and shadow with subtle modulations of tone. See also how the texture of the canvas remains visible, giving a tactile quality to the image. This approach really emphasizes the physicality of painting. The pastel-like colours are not blended, but laid side-by-side, which creates a sense of vibration and movement in the composition. It puts me in mind of Paula Modersohn-Becker, another German artist working around the same time, who had a similar interest in portraying the human figure in a raw, unidealized way. Both artists seem to be searching for a more authentic mode of expression, one that embraces ambiguity and emotional complexity.