Chest c. 1938

Bernard Krieger made this small painting of a chest. Looking at it, I imagine him being very focused, peering intently. I see decorative painted flowers, and ornamental flourishes, a testament to the human desire to make things pretty. You know, it’s funny how the impulse to decorate just keeps popping up, across cultures and centuries. We just can’t help ourselves, can we? It's as if there is a conversation between the object maker and the painter. Each inspiring the other. It makes me think about how everything is connected, how art builds upon art, how we keep circling back to the same ideas, the same forms, but always with a twist, a new perspective, a personal touch. I wonder, what was in the chest?