Niederdorf-Sepp 1943

Varlin painted "Niederdorf-Sepp" with visible brushstrokes, heavy impasto, and a muted palette. I can only imagine Varlin in the studio, wrestling with the canvas, adding layer upon layer, scraping back, trying to capture this figure. I love how you can see the materiality of the paint. The texture is so thick, it almost feels like sculpture. Look how he loaded the brush! There’s a tension between abstraction and figuration. I wonder if he was thinking about other figurative expressionists like Rouault, or Soutine. That one gesture right there, the way he applied the paint for the trousers – it communicates so much feeling, almost a sense of weariness. It's like painters are all in an ongoing conversation, riffing off each other's ideas across time. The artist embraces uncertainty, allowing for multiple readings. I think that’s what makes painting so exciting, it’s always open to interpretation!