About the work

This painting by Christian Rohlfs is a rarity. Produced in 1933 and painted in chalk and tempera, it is one of the few canvas paintings in his late work. The signature of the artist, who experimented with the design process even at an advanced age, wiped away paint, worked it with rags and brushes, thus enhancing it to a diffuse, ephemeral image effect, is unmistakeable.

However, what can we see in this painting? The title Huldigung (Homage) brings us onto the trail of Christian art, and Rohlfs connoisseurs know that the artist, very familiar with biblical stories, painted many works with religious content – from the time before the First World War until the last years of his life. However, nothing of the kind is recognisable on the canvas, no child in the manger, no adoration of the kings or something of that nature. Instead we see a family, with the focus on the mother, accompanied by the father, an adolescent daughter and a smaller child nestled against the mother, who has lovingly placed her large, protective hand around the child. Rohlfs, born the son of a farmer in Niendorf, Schleswig-Holstein, felt an affinity with the rural world throughout his life, and here presents a farm family that is obviously about to leave for the Sunday church service. The mother is wearing her Sunday best with a red top and a kerchief tied around her throat in a large bow, the father a dark, solemn suit.

The monumental figure of the mother, which dominates the painting, forms the centre, the powerful, calm anchor of the family. It is to her that the homage of the artist is due. Like his colleague Paula Modersohn-Becker with the paintings of the old lady from the poorhouse as a Worpswede primeval goddess, Rohlfs also successfully created a symbolic archetype of the mother in virtually biblical simplicity.

The mysterious representation is permeated by a great deal of sensitivity and deep spirituality. Here the painter once again expresses this disengagement from the substantial, the material, this wraithlike character that is so characteristic of his late work.