Stillleben mit Geranien und Schale 1950

Helen Dahm painted Still Life with Geraniums and Bowl, likely in Switzerland, where she lived and worked for much of her life, although the date remains uncertain. Dahm was a Swiss painter who associated with the expressionist group Der Sturm, yet she was also deeply invested in spiritualism and Eastern religions. So how can we reconcile these different influences in her work? Consider the still life, as a genre, has a long history of representing worldly pleasures and possessions but it can also signify the transience of earthly life, a reminder of mortality. Here, the bright colors and simplified forms reflect expressionist influences, but the domestic subject matter suggests a personal, even intimate, vision. The painting invites us to contemplate how Dahm synthesized her spiritual beliefs with the artistic currents of her time. To understand this further, we can explore archives and collections documenting the cultural milieu of early 20th-century Switzerland and the networks of artists and intellectuals to which Dahm belonged.