The Artist's Studio

Liebermann's studio at Pariserstrasse in Berlin was his workplace for decades, and this 1902 interior (now at the St. Gallen Museum of Art) captures the space as a subject in its own right. Artists' studios were a favoured motif in the nineteenth century, from Courbet's monumental self-advertisement to more intimate glimpses, and Liebermann's version is characteristically unsentimental — a working room filled with north light rather than a stage for artistic mythology.

Pale northern light floods through a large window, washing out the interior with diffuse luminosity. Easels and canvases are suggested rather than detailed. The handling is loose and confident, with the light itself treated as the picture's real subject — objects exist only as tonal events within it.