Lot 206 D

This painting shows the Lupawa river near Rowy in Pomerania, shortly before it flows into the Baltic Sea: an idyllic location whose natural beauty repeatedly inspired Pechstein to create art. On account of the specific lighting conditions, the clarity and the reflection of the gigantic cloudscape in the calm water, the painting conveys a thoroughly harmonious atmosphere. Strongly contrasting tones of yellow and blue as well as green and violet define the evocative character of the work. Many of Pechstein's landscape paintings from the twenties take an exceptional natural spectacle as their motive. He was fascinated by the elemental power as well as the beauty of nature, which he repeatedly sought to capture in images. The artist has expertly staged the dynamism and the imposing rolling of the huge, light-bringing cloud formations with the help of the thickly applied paint and a forceful transition progressing from a light ultramarine blue to light grey and then to an elated Naples yellow. The rowing boats lying in the water in the foreground also demonstrate that Pechstein not only knew how to charmingly place particular accents of colour, but that he was also a sovereign master of the composition of form.