Elias Cemetery in Dresden

1906

Oil on canvas, 44.3 × 61 cm. Brücke-Museum, Berlin

An old Dresden graveyard in deep green, with headstones, a cross and trees, and no people anywhere in view. A quiet, still subject is given a restless, heavy surface.

He signed it at lower right with a small monogram and the year.
Look at the lawn: it rolls in wavy bands, as if the ground itself were moving.
Thick paint goes on in short, curving strokes that follow the shapes of leaves and stones.
The museum's record tags Van Gogh as a reference. That borrowed energy unsettles a resting place, so mood counts for more than an exact view.
The museum acquired it from a private collection in 1979.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · PD-Art