Lot 219 Dα

Otto Mueller lived in Breslau (Wroclaw) from 1919 until his death, and was a professor at the art academy in this city. In the summer months he often travelled to Dalmatia, Hungary and Romania; however, it would seem irrelevant to topographically identify the landscapes he painted there. He did not choose to paint woodlands in order to illustrate nature, but rather to express his love for and humility in the face of it. This wish was motivated by the artist wanting to express his sensual experiences as directly as possible. A desire which often caused elements of his landscapes, such as trees and grasses, to be reduced almost to mere ornamental ciphers. Thanks to the economy of painterly means, images such as the present landscape are related to a lesser extent to the material world and can be understood on a more emotional and spiritual level. The artist's delightful angular outlines are reminiscent of his similarly jagged depictions of nudes. The rhythmic, diagonal treatment of the background and the harmonic palette of brown, green, blue and turquoise tones on a earth-coloured background are particularly beautiful. The simplicity of the composition, in which all elements form an aesthetic union, lend this woodland landscape a certain mystic power.