_October_. Design for a Ceiling Painting for the Café Bauer 1883

Curator: Look at this preparatory design by Hans Thoma from 1883. It’s titled _October_. Design for a Ceiling Painting for the Café Bauer. He worked with watercolor and chalk on paper for this. It’s dreamy, isn’t it? Editor: Dreamy is one word for it. I’m seeing putti, or maybe generic babies, floating on cotton-candy clouds. A slightly ominous, rococo sweetness. Like a Fragonard with a touch of the uncanny. And birds holding what look like...wine glasses? Curator: Exactly! It’s interesting how Thoma tries to evoke a sense of classical mythology, a scene of Bacchus, while it comes off pretty naive. And it does strike me as eerie and rather fragile because of the chosen muted color palette. What do you read into the composition? Editor: Well, breaking it down, the design is segmented almost like a mosaic. The upper compartments featuring abstract ornamental patterns in what look like chains or jewelry...the clouds are also broken down into triangular shapes. The combination, especially alongside those tipsy toddlers, projects an unsettling aestheticization of childhood. Were these cherubic figures just symbols, or did they ever represent real, vulnerable people? Curator: That's a pertinent point. It brings the commercial context into focus. Designed for a café, this could easily function as whimsical distraction, diverting the gaze upwards. However, when we linger, as you suggest, things seem darker. Thoma flirts with, but ultimately smooths out the potentially difficult topics associated with idealized depictions of children. Editor: Absolutely. This "October" brings forth complicated harvest. One has to wonder what specific "fruits" were supposed to be enjoyed in that café in the first place...This sketch, it’s more than a blueprint for interior décor; it embodies a specific kind of bourgeois fantasy and maybe denial too. Curator: It's the tension between the artist’s vision and the wider social context that makes this work particularly engaging for me. Thoma’s artistic sincerity combined with his naivety offers so much food for thought. Editor: For sure! Examining how something apparently light can refract heavier truths is quite compelling and is so central to Thoma's practice.