Waiting for Cholent – 🏛️ Currently on Museum Exhibition

Cultural, Historical & Educational Context: The Sabbath Rhythm and the Tradition of Cholent „Waiting for Cholent” captures the quiet intimacy of a Sabbath afternoon in the pre-war shtetl. At the core of the narrative is one of the most defining culinary and religious traditions of Ashkenazi life — the sharing of the Sabbath stew, cholent. Because Jewish law strictly prohibits kindling fire or cooking on Shabbat (melakha), the slow-cooked stew of beans, meat, barley, and potatoes was placed in a communal or domestic baker’s oven on Friday before sunset, simmering overnight until Saturday afternoon.

From an educational and cultural perspective, Marek Hausmann portrays two generations of men patiently awaiting the sacred midday meal. Seated before empty plates at the green table, their focus reflects reverence for the day of rest. The large metal pot containing the piping-hot stew rests in the immediate foreground upon a red wooden chair, embodying the warmth, peace, and spiritual rhythm of the Sabbath.

Visual Analysis, Real Colors, and Palette The composition is distinguished by powerful, high-contrast chromatic harmony:

• Background and Figures: A luminous, vibrant cadmium orange background sets off the rich, cool garments of the subjects. The younger man on the left, with dark sidelocks (peyot), wears an indigo-violet coat paired with a lush purple-furred shtreimel. Beside him, the elder with a full, textured gray beard wears a royal cobalt coat and a brilliant turquoise-blue fur hat.

• The Table and Foreground: The men sit behind a deep emerald-green table laid with three empty ceramic plates rendered in soft olive-white tones. In the foreground stands a bright vermilion-red chair supporting the heavy, metallic stew pot, its lid capturing layered silvery highlights.

The artist’s signature is placed vertically along the front left table leg („HAUSMANN”). „Waiting for Cholent” stands as a painted Kaddish celebrating generational continuity, domestic sanctity, and the timeless domestic rituals of the shtetl.

Technical Specifications:

• Title: Waiting for Cholent / Czekając na czulent

• Series: Kaddish for Shtetl (from the 22-canvas cycle)

• Artist: Marek Hausmann

• Medium: Oil on canvas

• Dimensions: 60 × 80 cm (approx. 23.6 × 31.5 in)

• Year: 2026

• Signature: Signed vertically on the table leg lower left „HAUSMANN”

• Authenticity: Accompanied by an official Certificate of Authenticity (COA) signed by the artist.