Meadow at Moritzburg 1910

Max Pechstein made this painting called 'Meadow at Moritzburg' sometime around 1910, probably with oil on canvas. It’s wild how the colours don’t seem to blend so much as vibrate against each other, like they’re fighting for space. You can see he’s not trying to create a realistic scene so much as capture a feeling, a mood. Check out that red outline snaking around the buildings and the hill. It’s so intense, it almost feels like the whole landscape is about to burst into flames, and that poor figure in the lower left corner carrying a bucket is really emphasized by that bold line. The paint looks pretty thin, not too much texture, but the colours are laid down in these simple, almost childlike shapes that really grab your attention. It’s like he’s having a conversation with Van Gogh, but turning up the volume way, way up. This piece definitely shows you how artists can take something familiar like a landscape and turn it into a whole new way of seeing.