Zwei Mädchen Im Wald 1919

Otto Mueller made this evocative print, 'Zwei Mädchen Im Wald' – or 'Two Girls in the Forest' in English – using lithography, a process that loves the mark of the hand. The colors here are muted, almost like a memory, but the scene is so alive. Look at the mark-making. The way the water is suggested with these nervous, horizontal scribbles. It feels like he’s trying to capture the way light flickers and dances on the surface. The texture is so present; you can almost feel the roughness of the stone. I find myself drawn to the dark strokes that define the foliage in the background. They remind me of Emil Nolde's woodcuts, all bold and direct. It’s like Mueller is saying, "Here is the forest, raw and untamed." And the girls themselves, emerging from the water, are part of that wildness. Art's like that, a conversation between different voices, different ways of seeing and feeling the world. It’s never about one right answer, but about embracing the mystery.