Still life with dead crow
1921, oil on canvas, 45 x 75 cm,
privately owned, Vienna

The content of the picture is not the dead crow, but the surface formation of the colour. It is applied inches thick; one can positively feel the weight of the mass of paint, dark and heavy. From being a means of representation, colour has changed to being a means of creating form. There is nothing to indicate that the bird was flying through the air only a short time before.