night scene along a body of water; female figure in LL corner lying on PL side, looking across water; house with lit windows in background, reflected in body of water but obsured by overhanging branches along upper part of image

Lied (Sorrow), c. 1898

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The German title for this lithograph is Leid, meaning “sorrow.” The Austrian Symbolist Maximilian Lenz does not make the cause of the young woman’s distress explicit. On a dusky night, she lies naked before a body of water, gazing away from us toward a palatial building. If it weren’t for the soft reflection, we could barely make out the building due to the low hanging branches that seem to envelop us along with the girl.

The dream-like quality of this image is reinforced by the gauzy texture and the slatey color of the ink. Symbolist artists often produce dreamy—or nightmarish—images that leave us to wonder about their meaning.

Details
Title
Lied (Sorrow)
Artist Life
1860–1948
Role
Artist
Accession Number
2020.21.2
Provenance
Sale Gonnelli Casa d’Aste, Florence, Italy, October 9, 2017, lot 334; (Eric Gillis Fine Art, Brussels, Belgium); sold to MIA, 2020.
Curator Approved

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night scene along a body of water; female figure in LL corner lying on PL side, looking across water; house with lit windows in background, reflected in body of water but obsured by overhanging branches along upper part of image