Fritz von Uhde's family wasn't rich, but they were quite comfortable. Here, it's as if we are standing in the middle of the family living room. But then we move through that space to the veranda where we see two of the artist's three daughters chatting at the open window. Finally, we look out past them and into the lush garden. The painting takes us beyond the beyond. Of course, the artist is depicting a physical place, but really this moving through three spaces, each beyond the other, is a mental or spiritual movement. Notice too that the light increases with that deepening movement.
For some people the beyond is financial security, a bigger house, a more fabulous vehicle, a better position, ever increasing notoriety or reputation. We all make choices. I am thinking of three psalms which express the "going beyond" for the Christian. Perhaps especially the Lenten-Christian. Fritz von Uhde was a spiritually motivated man — I expect he would understand.
Like the deer that yearns
for running streams,
so my soul is yearning
for you, my God.
My soul is thirsting for God,
the God of my life;
when can I enter and see
the face of God?
Psalm 41:2
O God, you are my God, for you I long;
for you my soul is thirsting.
My body pines for you
like a dry, weary land without water.
So I gaze on you in the sanctuary
to see your strength and your glory.
Psalm 62:2,3
My soul is longing and yearning,
is yearning for the courts of the Lord.
My heart and my soul ring out their joy
to God, the living God.
Psalm 83:2,3
