Oak leaves silhouette

Born into a family of shipbuilders, Philipp Otto Runge learnt the art of scissor-cut silhouettes as a boy from his mother and sister, even before learning to draw and paint, and continued to practice the medium throughout his life. Based on precise observations of plants he encountered on walks in the countryside, Runge's silhouettes depict immediately recognizable species, such as the oak leaves in this representation.

The cut-paper medium forced the artist to render his representations in a schematic, idealized way. The blue background enhances the meaning of these papercuts as blue, in the scheme of Runge’s color symbolism, represented God. The technique used was a traditional folk practice and Runge produced over one hundred such works, which he occasionally gave as gifts.