A Colour for Solitude: Poems

Revolving around the public and private lives of the great modern painter Paula Modersohn-Becker, this collection explores the artist’s relationship with her craft and her friendship with poet Rainer Maria Rilke and his wife, sculptor Clara Westhoff. Inspired by the artist’s numerous self-portraits, Bhatt transports the image of Modersohn-Becker to present-day Germany. This book-length sequence of poems presents a rich and fully conceived history of the inner and outer worlds of one of the century’s great modern painters.

Sujata Bhatt is the author of several volumes of poetry, including Monkey Shadows, The Stinking Rose, and Augatora. She lives in Bremen, Germany.