About the work

After the three-dimensional Migof objects, the often toxic bright yellow material collages of the 1960s and the fantastical scenarios of the large-scale grisailles of the 1970s, Bernard Schultze returned once again to a warmer palette in his painterly output during the 1980s. In its muted coloration and compositional structure, which recall the painter James Ensor whom he held in high regard, the 1981 watercolour "Perhaps from a Window", evinces parallels to his large-format canvasses from this period. Above all his watercolours are distinguished by the greater transparency of their colours. "The journey into the unknown was no different when I took the brush and applied the watercolour technique: I used very dry paint, tone next to tone, to conjure an internal landscape, replete with firmament and earth, and completely locked within the fertile embrace of all growth and decay". (cat. Deutsche Zeichnungen der Gegenwart, Cologne, 1982).
From along the lower edge and side of the sheet, a red-brown vortex spirals up around a bright vertical centre. Cascading crystalline structures, rendered in subtle gradations of brown, green and blue draw the gaze of the viewer into the spatial depth of an imaginary landscape or garden. As so often with Schultze, the work's associative title reflects the natural scenic impression it evokes.