Daphnes Verwandlung

In the visible light spectrum the color green lies roughly in the middle. By common understanding it symbolizes life and stands for fertility and growth in nature. Psychologically the color has a relaxing, balancing effect and is said to bring body and mind into harmony. Goethe chose the color green for his study in order not to be distracted from writing. In my depictions the color green always appears where the human is deprived of his ego-power and overwhelmed by the naturalness of his existence. Where human consciousness capitulates and loses control, nature takes over and the human falls back into atavistic states. Pictorially expressed in insect- or reptile-like forms that rage unconsciously within and, as it were, wish to take possession of the soul. But also—in a somewhat milder form—in a plant metamorphosis in which the human descends to a purely vegetative level of existence—depicted in a mythological Daphne variation.