Mahler IV , surnamed 'The Italian' because of the colordesign of his suit of which gave me an Italian impression : The yellow ocher combined with cinnabar and green , against the white of the collar , one is involuntarily inclined to think of the Italian flag .Wenn Imade this painting I was'nt aware of the trips Mahler and his family used tyo make to Milan ( Mailand ) .Alma Mahler recalls that once ,because they had to return in time to Vienna , they had to take the airplane , but above the Alps they got into bad weather . Looking at the painting you can recognise a geometric landscape and in the air you see arabesc-like lines ,that could be interpreted as the drifting about tracks of a plane .
Mahler's head is based on a series of photographs Alfred Roller made in 1907 in the Vienna Court Opera House during Mahler's final year as a director and intendant .Mahlers face speaks , not without reason , of the upmost weariness .
Also : Gilbert Kaplan : The Mahler Abum , photographs 79-91