Lady Absinth | Ferdinand Keller | 1901 Size:16"x12" Rendered with expressive brushwork and

Rendered with expressive brushwork and subtle contrasts of light and shadow

The use of dark and dramatic lighting accentuates his figure and the dynamic movement suggested in the composition

The woman’s pale

perhaps alluding to the soul’s journey between life and death

Lady Absinth | Ferdinand Keller | 1901 Size:16"x12" Rendered with expressive brushwork andIn Lady Absinth, Ferdinand Keller frames the scene within a dark tunnel of bare, arching trees that close in like a corridor, drawing the eye toward a pale, ghost like female figure at its centre. She appears almost weightless, emerging from mist and shadow, her whitened form glowing faintly against the surrounding darkness. The enclosing trees suggest entrapment and descent, while the spectral figure embodies intoxication itself seductive, unreal,