The Hateful Colour

Wiebke Siem’s practice regularly takes inspiration from fields beyond visual art history, and her works often include references to (classical) music, such as in Die Böse Farbe. The title of the work is taken from a poem by nineteenth-century poet Wilhelm Müller (1794-1827), which was included and set to music by composer Franz Schubert (1797-1828) on the song cycle Die Schöne Müllerin. The piece tells the melancholic tale of a young man’s non-reciprocal love for the miller’s daughter, culminating in the boy being driven to desperation and jealousy before drowning himself in the brook. Schubert wrote this piece of music during a low point of his life, a period in which he was beset by illness and depression, in addition to the poverty he found himself in after a number of poor financial decisions. The manner in which the figure’s form sprawls across the table channels the sense of melancholy Schubert’s music evokes.