At the Window

A dimly lit room.
One woman quietly lifts the curtain covering the window, while the other, bare to the waist, rests gently against the window frame.
Their eyes do not meet.
Each seems immersed in deep silence.

The year is 1922.
Germany was in turmoil following its defeat in the First World War.
It was a time of immense upheaval, with the specter of hyperinflation looming.
The painter Karl Hofer was also among those deeply scarred by the war.

In the summer of 1914, while staying in France, he was detained as an enemy alien.
Three arduous years of internment followed.
He finally returned to Berlin in 1919.
Appointed a professor at the art academy, he began to regain his standing in society.
Yet the trauma of war lingered in his mind.
The nihilism pervading society also weighed heavily upon him.

It was then that the model Elisabeth Schmidt entered his life.
While still married to his wife, Hofer began living almost as husband and wife with her in Berlin.
Elisabeth became his most vital muse.
Her classical features became the archetype for the "new image of woman" that Hofer portrayed.

Germany at the time suffered from severe material shortages.
Obtaining a new canvas was a difficult task.
Hofer scraped away an earlier landscape he had painted.
He then reused the reverse side to complete this painting.
The rough, textured surface.
It bears the imprint of the harsh realities of that era,
along with the painter's obsession—an undeniable urge to paint despite it all.