Lot 205 Dα

It is well known how severely Jawlensky's painful illness limited his physical mobility in his old age; he was thus able to guide a brush only with difficulty. Nonetheless he achieved masterworks of painterly concentration in the series of the late “Meditationen”. None is the same as any other. Only the characteristic painterly hand remains the same, masters the format and expresses a paradox: formal rigour of the composition, calm, contemplation and yet extremely gentle, expressive, inner and outward movement and vitality.
In his “Lebenserinnerungen” Jawlensky writes: “My works of my last period have been in very small formats, but the paintings are even deeper and more spiritual, spoken only through colour. Because I have sensed that, as a result of my illness, I will no longer be able to work in the future, I worked like a possessed person on these little 'Meditations' of mine. And now for the future I leave these small but, for me, important works to those people who love art.” (Alexej von Jawlensky, cited in: Tayfun Belgin (ed.), Alexej von Jawlensky, Reisen, Freunde, Wandlungen, exhib. cat. Dortmund 1998, p. 119)