Tree with Houses in the Background

• Richard Gerstl (1883–1908)
• 1907
• Oil on canvas
• Leopold Museum, Vienna

In 1907, Richard Gerstl painted lively, expressive landscapes that he developed from his visual impressions on places. At the right side of this vertical painting, Gerstl depicts a thin tree trunk whose upper and lower part are overlapped and cut off by the edge of the painting. The composition, almost without any depths, shows influences of Japanese woodcuts. The short, intense brushstrokes of the meadow and the leaves reveal his interest in the surface texture of colors.