In the painting Two Men Asleep at the Table, While One Broods about Evil (Deeds) by Josef Karl Rädler a man with a mustach stares directly - and glumly at the viewer while his companions sleep through this confrontation, head in arms. Birds pick at the forgotten pieces of bread on the table. The viewer is left wondering what has transpired. My curiosity was piqued enough for me to look up Rädler's bio on Galerie St. Etienne’s website  where I found out that he was born in Bohemia and founded a porcelain workshop, leading a normal life with a wife and children until he was in his late 40s when he began to experience mood swings and was diagnosed with something like schizophrenia. He may have actually suffered from temporal lobe disturbances. He was institutionalized in 1905 where he painted his fellow patients going on with their daily lives as well as the landscape around the hospital. Perhaps he is contemplating his unfortunate predicament in this scene.

Courtesy Galerie St. Etienne (Booth 506)