Kinder Mit Ziegenherd 1916

Hans Thoma made this pastoral painting, Kinder Mit Ziegenherd, with oils on canvas. I imagine him dabbing, smearing, layering greens, greys, and browns, building a vision of children and goats in a clearing, somewhere in Germany perhaps. The green is so pervasive; the whole scene feels like it's being slowly overtaken by plant life. The painting is a bit of a fantasy, but it's rooted in the real: I can imagine Thoma walking around the countryside, thinking and looking, deciding what to include and what to leave out. What does it mean to be a painter of modern life? I wonder if Thoma knew Courbet, the way he also painted everyday life. I imagine the painting as a sort of diary entry – not just documenting what he saw, but making it all shimmer with his presence. Painters are always in conversation like this, learning from the past, and reinventing it for the future.