Christian Rohlfs - Gelbe Lilien auf rotem Grund - image-1

Lot 520 Dα

Christian Rohlfs - Gelbe Lilien auf rotem Grund

Auction 1110 - overview Cologne
01.06.2018, 17:00 - Modern Art
Estimate: 18.000 € - 22.000 €
Result: 24.800 € (incl. premium)

Christian Rohlfs

Gelbe Lilien auf rotem Grund
1918

Water tempera on textured watercolour paper 49 x 66.5 cm Framed under glass. Monogrammed and dated 'CR 18' in red lower right. - Very vibrant colours. Completely mounted on backing paper and card. Short inconspicuous compressions in upper margin.

With an astounding ease Christian Rohlfs transferred the artistic experiences he gained while painting in oils during the second decade of the 20th century to watercolour and tempera painting. He had already been open to experiments in painting technique early on, but it was precisely in his approach to paper that his artistic creative process would present itself as exceptionally advanced. Particularly in his floral pieces, Rohlfs was able to invest the chromatic expression so central to his art with an especially strong presence. In our work he has placed a bouquet of radiant lilies in ringing yellow before a warm red background, complemented by green and blue accents in the foliage and vase. Here the composition's strict partitioning of space points to the work's creation before 1920, as does the expressionistically clear vocabulary of forms. Considering the year the work was painted - 1918 - the radiant primary colours and the luminosity of the lilies seem all the more remarkable for their power and vitality.

Catalogue Raisonné

Not recorded by Vogt

Certificate

With a certificate by Christian Rohlfs-Archiv im Osthaus Museum, Hagen, dated 7 Mai 2018. The work is registered in the archive under the number "CRA 169/18".

Provenance

Private collection; Baden Württemberg