The Evil Mothers – Works – Sammlung Online

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The image depicts a barren, wintry landscape with a painted tree in the center. A figure in a long, flowing garment hangs from a branch of the tree. The figure has long hair and is partially enveloped by the tree. In the background, dark mountains are visible, and the entire scene has a melancholic and dreamy atmosphere.

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Oberes Belvedere
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The Evil Mothers
Date1894

Künstler*in Giovanni Segantini (1858 Arco – 1899 Schafberg)

ULAN

Object typePainting
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions
105 × 200 cm
SignatureSign. rechts unten: G. Segantini 1894
Inventory number485
Locations Belvedere, Upper Belvedere, 1. Floor (east), Room NO2
A young woman is in the midst of an icy landscape. A child is suckling from her breast and she is entangled in the branches of a tree. Her head turned to the side, her back arched, the mother is struggling against the infant with all her might. In this barren mountain world, Giovanni Segantini is showing us the fate of women who surrender themselves to desire but refuse to accept motherhood. As punishment these mothers had to endure “the castigations of purgatory,” as the painter himself put it when referring to his moralizing image. The women had no choice other than to accept their fate and thus find redemption. In the background these reformed mothers can be seen dancing with their children toward the mountains.

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1901 Widmung Secession, Wien, unter finanzieller Mitwirkung der Kunstfreunde

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