Vienna Secession: Josef Engelhart:
The Wind (Der Wind), 1897
Oil and pastel on canvas (or board)
70 × 90 cm
200 × 120 cm
©Museum Wiesbaden

A young woman leans into a strong gust, her red hair swept back in a long, bright curve and her pale drapery lifted as if the wind has taken hold of it. The soft green ground gives the scene an open, airy feeling, and her movement has the ease of a dance rather than a struggle. The pastel brings a gentle lightness to the folds of her dress, letting the wind show itself in the way the fabric twists and lifts. Above the sheet, the small dancing figures in the frieze echo the same sense of motion, as if the frame itself shares the rhythm of the scene. The whole composition feels as though it has been caught in a single breath of air, held just long enough for us to see it before it moves on.

This work belongs to the moment just before the founding of the Vienna Secession, when Engelhart and his contemporaries were looking for a clearer, more open way of showing movement and emotion. The Wind shows him stepping away from strict realism and toward a softer, more fluid line that would soon become part of the Secession’s early language. At this time he was close to the group around Klimt and Moser, sharing their wish to bring new influences into Viennese art while still keeping a strong, human presence at the centre of the work. The figure is not symbolic in a heavy way; she is simply a person caught in a strong wind, and the simplicity of the scene gives it its quiet strength. Engelhart’s steady interest in the human figure — direct, warm, and free of excess — gives the sheet its calm, natural feeling.

In the years that followed, the Secession itself changed. In 1905 Klimt and his circle broke away, while the remaining group continued under Engelhart’s leadership. His art, more rooted in clarity and representation, gradually drew less attention than the decorative modernism that surrounded Klimt. Even so, Engelhart kept working with conviction. In 1909 he organised a large collective exhibition of his own work, followed later by others, and after 1919 he turned increasingly inward, focusing on portraits of family members and public figures. Although he had been one of the most successful painters of his time and a driving force behind the Secession, his name faded in the decades after his death, and only recently has his work begun to receive renewed attention. Seen today, a work like this feels almost like a quiet rediscovery, a reminder of how central he once was to the artistic life of Vienna.

What makes the work so striking is the balance at its core. Even as the wind pushes her forward, the woman remains composed, her movement smooth and unforced, as if she trusts the air around her. Engelhart finds a gentle line between motion and stillness, turning a simple gust of wind into something quietly uplifting. The sheet feels open and direct, and the long sweep of her body gives the work a rhythm that stays with you. In this moment of wind and movement, Engelhart captures something simple and human — a brief encounter with the elements that feels both intimate and expansive, held in a single, flowing gesture that lingers long after you step away.