Otto Müller was a German painter and printmaker of the Die Brücke expressionist movement. The main topic of Mueller's works is the unity of humans and nature; his paintings emphasize a harmonious simplification of form, colour and contours. He is known especially for his characteristic paintings of nudes and Romani women.
奥托-穆勒是德国桥派表现主义运动的画家和版画家。穆勒作品的主要主题是人与自然的统一；他的绘画强调形式、色彩和轮廓的和谐简化。他尤其以其特有的裸体画和罗姆尼女性绘画而闻名。
Maschka with Mask Although personal references can only rarely be distinguished in Otto Mueller’s pictorial narratives, this painting can be linked directly to the artist’s biography. The figure depicted is Maschka, who Mueller met in Dresden in 1899 and married in 1905. At the time the painting was made, Mueller was thinking about a divorce because he had recently started having an affair with a student of his at the Breslauer Akademie. Maschka with Mask appears as a double portrait of the artist and his wife: Mueller himself is incarnated in the mask that hangs like a trouvaille on the wall, with its empty eye sockets and a seemingly petrified mouth, thin-lipped and resigned. Maschka, on the other hand, seems self-confident and trendy, lively and temperamental. Like in other double portraits, in this painting in Essen, Mueller not only takes on the role of viewer; he also subjects himself to self-questioning and examination because of the doubtful relationship between the two.
虽然在奥托-穆勒的绘画叙事中，人物很少能被分辨出来，但这幅画可以直接和艺术家的生平联系在一起。画面中的人物是玛什卡，穆勒在1899年和她在德累斯顿相识并于1905年结婚。创作这幅画时，穆勒正在考虑离婚，因为他那时正与他在布雷斯劳尔学院的一个学生有婚外情。《玛什卡与面具》是艺术家和妻子的双重肖像画：穆勒本人化身为墙上的面具，它的眼神空洞，嘴巴僵硬，嘴唇很薄，像是一幅听天由命的样子。玛什卡在另一边，看起来自信、时髦、充满活力而喜怒无常。像其他双人肖像画一样，这幅在埃森创作的画中，穆勒不仅扮演了观众的角色，他还对两人之间不明确的关系进行了自我怀疑和省察。
We present today's painting thanks to the Museum Folkwang. : )
感谢德国弗柯望博物馆与我们分享今天的画作。:)
