Faust, I
Jan Müller
American, born Germany. 1922–1958
1956
A tense, oil-painted tableau that stages nude and masked figures in a theatrical scene to evoke the moral and erotic turmoil of Faust.
You first notice the rough, urgent brushwork and a crowd of ghostly pale bodies—one with bright blond hair—set against a dark, bristling ground punctuated by green and red masks and flashes of yellow that give the scene a haunted, stage-like intensity.
Made in the 1950s by an artist bridging European expressionism and the American avant-garde, the painting reintroduces mythic narrative and raw emotion into postwar gestural painting, reflecting existential anxieties and widening the possibilities for figurative expression.
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
68 1/8" x 10' (173 x 304.7 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Purchase
Accession
16.1957
Palette
Exhibitions
