Phantasien eines roten Zimmers c. 1923

Karl Wiener's Phantasien eines roten Zimmers is an intimate interior space, seemingly made with washes of red and blue watercolor. I can imagine Wiener hunched over the paper, letting the brush dance across the surface, diluting the colors and letting them bleed into each other, building up a world one layer at a time. The title translates to 'Fantasies of a Red Room' - it makes me wonder about Wiener, lost in this reddish world, conjuring an image of warmth and unease. There is a window offering a glimpse of cool blue light, but it doesn't temper the heat of the room. Did you notice the way the table is set with objects, like a stage awaiting a performance? The whole painting feels like a memory or a dream, suspended between clarity and fading. We all learn from each other - Wiener probably saw the Fauves, and then other artists saw him, and so on. Painting is like that: an ongoing conversation where different ideas and gestures echo through time.