Biography (2/10)
Munich, 1923. Setting off on the journey

The urge to paint all day long - 'to finally become a worker!' - dictated, from now on, all of Staude's personal choices. He pursued his 'visions' and pushed ahead in what he defined as 'my direction.' Impatiently he awaited the end of school, yearning for 'the South, where all art flourishes.' His first stop-over was supposed to be in Munich where he hoped to study at the Academy of Fine Arts under Hugo Ernst Schnegg, an exponent of late German impressionism. In Munich, Fritz Rougemont was supposed to be waiting for him, 'the understanding friend' to whom he was drawn by a feeling 'of belonging to the same time and the same intentions.'
But Munich turned out to be a disappointment. Schnegg was not there, Rougemont had left for Italy. 'I must find myself,' Staude wrote in his diary, awe-struck by the immensity of the task ahead. 'I am fighting in these days a heavy battle […]. It is the battle for the new generation. For the new Germany, and for myself.' Of his loneliness he wrote: "I am definitely fond of it now." And of his painting: 'The goal I can see; but the way - ah, if only I knew it!