Three Girls at the Window, 1939

Karl Hofer (1878–1955) made window frames the setting for a whole series of paintings. Rather than the actual event, he thus focused on the reaction to it. In 1939, when many dismal premonitions became a reality, the artist, who was denounced by the Nazis, captured the Three Girls at the Window in an exceptional state, though he left us in doubt about the severity of the events that have just taken place in the street. The girl leaning against the window sill, who appears to have just been interrupted while cleaning, looks curiously on the scene, without seeming in any way alarmed; it is likely that she has witnessed more than one unpleasant incident in her time. The woman wearing a dressing gown and standing deeper inside the gloom of the room, perhaps the lady of the house, however, seems to be in shock. The women’s light clothing and the raised blinds indicate a summer’s day that has failed to deliver on its promise.

IR, 2021