Fritz Overbeck | Mondaufgang hinter Birken, unfertig | 1897 | Öl auf Leinwand

Unfinished paintings are more than just aborted or perhaps failed attempts – they disclose the artist at work, they look behind the scenes, and, more than anything else, they stir the imagination: what had presented itself to the eyes of the beholder where the canvas remained white? How would the artist have continued his work on the very picture? Why did he stop working on it at just this point?

The fragmentary, the unfinished provides the respective works of art with a dynamic that challenges visual habits and enriches our view of reality – as the unfinished is omnipresent in the world. Do we ever see things as a whole or as a fragment? How do we complement or alter them in our imagination without being aware of it?