Weißes Interieur 1905

Carl Moll painted this interior view with oil on canvas, in a style recalling both Impressionism and the Vienna Secession. The brushwork is broken and visible, and in its dabs and dashes we can sense the artist's gestures, his decisions. The scene is dominated by white, a symbolic color, but also the hue of mass-produced porcelain, and the fashion for stark interiors favored by the upper middle class. Glazed cabinets display a range of collectable objects, suggesting global trade networks and the leisure to accumulate possessions. The table is set with care, perhaps for a formal luncheon. The woman is dressed in a flowing white gown, the kind of garment that presupposes a life of relative ease. Ultimately, Moll's painting reminds us that even the most intimate spaces are shaped by larger economic forces, and the labor required to maintain a tasteful home. It invites us to consider the relationship between fine art and the everyday objects that surround us.