Supper at Worpswede

Supper at Worpswede is one of a group of interior scenes that Vaughan painted at this time (see also Interior with Figures at a Table, 1948; Interior with Nude Figures, 1949; Studio Interior, 1950 and The Return of the Prodigal Son, 1950). Each is imbued with a sense of domestic drama or tension and muses on the nature of intimate relationships. At the time he painted it Vaughan was sharing a house in Hamilton Terrace with the artist John Minton, and their once close friendship was in the process of collapsing into professional rivalry and household squabbling. Furthermore, Vaughan’s relationship with Ramsay McClure, who had recently moved in, was also becoming an emotional and bitter strain.

The subject is also inspired by Rilke, one of Vaughan’s favourite poets. He speaks of someone leaving a kitchen to milk a cow in a dark barn and notes how the milk in the bowl ‘looked as black as soot’ in the dim twilight. The sombre palette not only reflects this strange, dream-like narrative, but also the emotional tension between the two figures. Silhouetted against the dark doorway, the figure at the left prepares a meal. At the right, a somewhat threatening, seated figure awaits his supper. On the table the jug and a cup (which echo or rhyme with the two figures) are placed next to pieces of fruit, symbolically sliced apart with a knife.

We are very grateful to Gerard Hastings for preparing this catalogue entry. His forthcoming book is Keith Vaughan: The Graphic Art.