Sitzende Und Badende Mit Baum 1918

Otto Mueller made this lithograph, ‘Sitzende Und Badende Mit Baum’ – that’s ‘Seated and Bathing Women with Tree’ – at some point in his career, but we don’t know exactly when. The first thing that strikes me is the color. It's this really simple palette of yellows and greys which feels so natural and calming. The surface has this grainy, almost sandy texture, like the paper itself is part of the image. Look at the way Mueller uses the grey to create these dense thickets of trees and reeds at the bottom. It’s as if he's inviting us into a secret space. The yellow picks out the figures, making them glow. It reminds me a little of Paula Modersohn-Becker. There’s a similar sense of stillness and contemplation. But where Becker goes for a kind of earthy monumentality, Mueller is more interested in capturing a fleeting moment. A mood. It’s a reminder that art isn’t about answers, it’s about questions. And sometimes, the most beautiful questions are the ones that linger.