Wozu ängstigen 1943

Karl Wiener made this untitled painting, sometime between 1901 and 1949, using oil on canvas. The palette is really striking – a cool range of blues and greens, a bit like looking through tinted sunglasses. The marks are loose and gestural, which gives the whole thing a dreamy, slightly unsettling vibe. Looking closely, you can see how Wiener builds up the image with layers of thin paint. There's a real physicality to the way he handles the oil. Take the skull, for example: the eye sockets are these dark, cavernous holes, painted with such intensity that they almost seem to suck you in. It reminds me a bit of Ensor's masks – that same sense of morbid playfulness. Wiener’s choice to embrace ambiguity makes you wonder about what he is trying to say. Is it a memento mori? A comment on the transience of life? Whatever it is, it's a painting that stays with you.