Zwei Badende Unter Bäumen 1923

Editor: Here we have Otto Mueller's "Zwei Badende Unter Bäumen," or "Two Bathers Under Trees," created around 1923 using colored pencils. I'm struck by the work’s primitive style and dream-like state of being, with the figures feeling both vulnerable and connected to the landscape. What do you see when you look at it? Curator: It's interesting that you mention vulnerability. The historical context is important here. Mueller, a member of Die Brücke, lived through World War I and the social upheavals that followed. While this looks idyllic, Expressionists like Mueller were often grappling with the psychological impact of modernity, the anxieties surrounding industrialization and its effect on our human connection to nature. Do you see how the rough quality of the colored pencil and simplified forms contribute to this feeling? Editor: I do! The lack of detail does lend an uneasy feeling to what might otherwise feel serene. Why situate female nudes as primary within it? Curator: Consider the social role that imagery takes during this period. In Weimar Germany, a sense of sexual liberation was rising with newly established republic. Art from this time engages more and more with ideas of “the nude” – often represented as an honest, idealized symbol of nature as it pushes against constraints presented by traditional art institutions, where standards were vastly different from this “back to nature” approach to capturing images of humans in natural forms. Do you get a sense of how its landscape genre contributes to a specific aesthetic associated with “the people”? Editor: I understand better now. It isn't *just* a peaceful image; it is connected to huge shifts that art and society experienced after the War. Thanks for explaining the importance of this work. Curator: Exactly. The picture plane is much bigger than what we see on the surface; we both must actively reflect and recognize how historical contexts are always connected within visual representations to fully appreciate what art really represents.