Grey Hour

The paintings Italian Cemetery at Dusk and Grey Hour portray the same motif; a large urban cemetery with headstones and majestic tombs fading with age among the trees and bushes in the falling dark of the evening. Adam Chmielowski (1845-1916) chose the moment of dusk to show the disappearance of daylight and the optical phenomena associated with it. The painting gives a suggestive reflection of the gentle greyness of the end of the day. A colour accent is provided by the figure of a seated man.
Motifs of the change between times of day intrigued the painters of the Munich artistic circle, including the Poles studying there: the brothers Maksymilian and Aleksander Gierymski, Józef Brandt, Józef Chełmoński, and Adam Chmielowski. A type of mood painting called a “Stimmungsbild”. This category of painting embraced landscapes, genre scenes, historical scenes, and images from the world of fantasy. Stimmungsbild paintings featured a fine harmony of colours and the exploitation of nuances of colour. These paintings evoke in the viewer a mysterious mood. they prick the imagination and invite contemplation.