Five Girls at a Forest Pond (Funf Madchen am Waldteich) c. 1919

Otto Mueller made this woodcut, Five Girls at a Forest Pond, with stark black lines that carve out this scene. It's like he chiseled the light and dark, creating a world that feels both rugged and intimate. I imagine Mueller, staring at the woodblock, figuring out where to make each cut. Those girls wading in the water – were they real, or just ghosts from his imagination? The trees aren't just trees; they’re more like jagged emotional states. He’s got some echoes of Kirchner, but with his own kind of melancholy. The landscape, almost aggressive in its simplicity, reminds us that nature isn’t always gentle. Artists talk to each other across time, you know? Mueller’s woodcut is a shout into the void, a way of wrestling with form and feeling. He’s inviting us to bring our own stories and make our own meaning.