Witch and Water Serpent, 1906

In his 1906 work Witch and Water Serpent, Alfred Kubin (1877–1959) showcases his great passion for fantasizing and his predilection for exquisitely strange narratives of fantastic worlds. Using gouache on paper, he creates figures that appear to have emerged from the devouring darkness of the deep sea and seem to be dancing and whirring around each other in iridescent colors in their wet element. The Austrian draftsman, graphic artist and painter, who, after short intermezzi of studying, made a career as an autodidact thanks to his overflowing imagination and exceptional talent for drawing, skillfully stages the two entwined fantastic creatures diagonally in a nearly square format. We encounter their prickly, hairy and scale-covered bodies and fins in a driving, sweeping motion. Shimmering in shades of green, blue, rusty red and yellow with superimposed white lights, the two bodies nestling together seem to reflect the light penetrating the darkness. The two creatures exude tenderness, despite their weird amphibious exoticism.

MH, 2021