In the Morning

Fritz von Uhde's 'In the Morning' (1889) is a domestic genre subject — the morning moment in a household as a specific time of day with its characteristic light quality (the early, slanting light, the quality of the morning's first illumination) and its social character (the awakening of the family, the beginning of the day's activities). Von Uhde's engagement with the specific qualities of different times of day connected his domestic subjects to the broader Impressionist interest in temporal and atmospheric specificity.

Von Uhde renders the morning domestic scene with his characteristic attention to light quality — the specific character of morning illumination (its direction, intensity, and color temperature) depicted with the naturalist sensitivity that distinguished his best work. His figures in the morning moment — whether the family at breakfast, children just risen, or the first activities of the household day — are integrated within the specific atmospheric conditions of the early hour.