Lilacs and Mountains 1920

Maurice Braun painted "Lilacs and Mountains" with oils on canvas. Look closely, and you'll see that Braun is a master of understatement. The paint is applied in thin, washy layers, allowing the texture of the canvas to peek through, especially in the sky. There's a real sense of atmosphere, of light filtering through the haze. The color palette is muted, mostly earth tones and grays, with just a hint of purple in the distance. It's a painting that rewards slow looking, inviting us to get lost in its details. Note the brushstrokes in the foreground, loose and gestural, suggesting the tangle of undergrowth. It's almost abstract! But then, as our eyes move towards the horizon, the forms become more defined, resolving into mountains and water. The surface has a velvety quality. Braun seems to have taken a leaf from Corot, who also painted landscapes with a quiet, contemplative mood, embracing ambiguity over clarity.