Danger, c. 1901

Alfred Kubin (1877–1959) makes us experience utter hopelessness and absolute horror as he gives free reign to his overflowing imagination and lures us into an emotional abyss in his 1901 India ink and watercolor drawing Danger. Kubin exposes us to an overpowering, elemental threat that resembles a paralyzing nightmare, a vision of horror: In a basin-like sea enclosed by high, smooth walls that appear insuperable, a tiny human figure is trying to escape on a boat with billowed sails. The masts of sunken ships protrude from the water. A gigantic monster is bending down over the edge of the basin and is stirring the sea with its huge, brutal paws attached to infinitely long arms. It is trying to catch the speeding boat. The horrible beast is a chimera with a human torso and the snake-like neck of a brontosaurus topped by a small, hideous, almost human face with a grimace that seems to crave its next victim. As a superb explorer of nightmarish worlds, Kubin already seems to anticipate Surrealism in his early works.

MH, 2021