Wondrous Birds

Hans Thoma created several paintings of storks in flight, including Wondrous Birds. He depicted the storks from the perspective of another bird. This point of view makes it look like the artist was in the sky, flying beside the birds. 

Thoma’s focus on painting storks may have been influenced by his interest in German folklore. In these stories storks brought good luck to families. Children were often taught that storks delivered babies to their parents, carrying them down in baskets from the sky. Thoma was known to have a strong interest in symbolism and mythology, but he never explained the meaning of Wondrous Birds. 

tags: animals, environment, force, movement, observation, perspective, flight, clouds, landscape, water