Leben in Farbe (Life in Color)

Visual Description

The face of an old man fills the right half of the picture. The crop is tight: forehead and chin are cut off. A large, bright eye looks attentively to the side. A hand rests at his mouth, the fingers curled. Deep lines run across his forehead, around his eyes and over his cheeks.

Head and hand are painted in black, white and gray, with strong contrast and a fine sense for the texture of the skin. The ground is silvery gray. On the left, a vertical stream of paint runs down in pink, red, blue and white, with splashes and drips. It looks poured and set against the face.

Artistic Interpretation

“Leben in Farbe” (Life in Color) places two times side by side. The face carries the traces of a long life; the color beside it stands for memory, experience and vitality. The man seems lost in thought, perhaps looking back.

Hübner separates figure and color spatially and yet connects them in meaning. The hand at the mouth suggests restraint, the eye alertness. Viewers do not see an image of decline but a portrait in which a lifetime of experience remains present. The title states what the painting implies: life has color, even when the face appears gray.

Art-Historical Context

The work links the tradition of the portrait of old age with the pouring technique that has been part of painting’s vocabulary since Jackson Pollock. Hübner deliberately sets the two against each other: controlled, draftsmanlike figuration and color that finds its own path.

Exclusivity

“Leben in Farbe” is a unique work in acrylic on aluminum, 50 × 50 cm, including a floater frame, painted in July 2026. The metallic support gives the grays a subtle sheen. Fluorescent pigments react to UV light and make the colored stream glow under black light.

Collector Value

The work belongs to the group “Inner States.” Its compact square format and floater frame make it well suited to smaller walls and intimate rooms. For collectors, it offers an accessible entry point into Hübner’s paintings on aluminum.

More About the Artist

Matthias Hübner (b. 1976) combines high-contrast figuration with intense color and an open, psychologically charged visual language in modern surrealistic realism. People, emotions and different levels of perception are at the center of his work. Since returning to painting in 2020, he has continued to develop his artistic position experimentally.

Early awards at the GDR youth painting competition in 1989 and the European painting competition in 1993, along with international recognition in recent years, mark his artistic development.

Condition Report

Very good condition; no visible defects. A detailed condition report is available on request.