Q75367573

This 1890 oil from the Lenbachhaus is one of Busch's later works, produced after he had largely withdrawn from public life. By 1890 Busch was in his late fifties and living quietly in Wiedensahl, his published satire behind him and his days increasingly devoted to private painting and writing verse. The works he produced in this final creative phase have a meditative quality that distinguishes them from the more urgent output of his middle years. The Lenbachhaus holds this 1890 canvas alongside other important examples of Munich Realist painting, and Busch's presence in this company reflects the seriousness with which German cultural institutions began to regard his painted output by the late nineteenth century. In 1890 Munich was simultaneously the home of conservative genre painting and the birthplace of new currents — the Secession would be founded there in 1892 — and Busch's quietly independent path occupied an interesting middle position: personal and direct without being aggressively innovative.

The 1890 date places this canvas firmly in Busch's late manner: the technique is maximally direct, forms resolved quickly, and the overall effect is of confident simplicity. Late Busch works often have an almost sketch-like freshness that reflects his freedom from exhibition ambition.