Der Garten, 2025 (gallery view)
oil on Belgian linen
100 x 150 cm (39,4 x 59 inches)
Der Garten, 2025 (detail)
oil on Belgian linen
100 x 150 cm (39,4 x 59 inches)
The painting shows a close-up of two apples from an old cultivar, one of which is placed precisely at the compositional center. The fruits are not idealized, nor are they arranged in the manner of traditional still life. They appear unaltered (asymmetrical and not yet fully ripe).
The image is based on a photograph taken in a private garden, a location not publicly accessible and owned by a prominent figure (*1) active in global scientific and humanitarian contexts.
While the provenance of the fruit is precise, the garden itself remains invisible. The painting offers no broader view, no setting; only the fruit is shown.
The symbolic (*2) dimensions of the apple such as knowledge, temptation, transgression, fertility, mortality etc. are historically charged, but here left deliberately latent. The image refrains from activating allegory or constructing narrative. It remains observational, fragmentary, and self-contained.
The subject matter engages both the genres of still life and landscape. The isolated depiction of fruit in close-up (enabled only through the mediating eye of the camera) adheres to conventions of still life, while the origin of the motif in a cultivated, living environment gestures toward landscape.
Technical note: The painting doesn‘t use any greens; it includes raw umber, zinc white (zinc oxide), cadmium yellow and red (cadmium sulfide and cadmium sulfoselenide), and indigo (indigotin).
Sources:
1 Thomas Strüngmann.
In: Wikipedia – The Free Encyclopedia, URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Strüngmann
2 Apple (symbolism).
In: Wikipedia – The Free Encyclopedia, URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_(symbolism)