Lot 276a Dα

The present work strikingly reveals Georg Schrimpf's deep connection with the landscape, whose inward sentiment provided the basis of his painted work. Through the expansive view as well as the empty and tranquil scene, the artist has arrived at a New Objectivist and almost artificial aesthetic, aligned not least with the tradition of German Romanticism. Schrimpf does not wish to reproduce a seen landscape, but the impression left behind by it. “I can paint only the idea that I bring back from it. Not anything else. […] That is why - because I paint not reality but my idea of it - I do not have any experiences while painting which I could talk about: all the experiences lie only within myself.” (Georg Schrimpf, Bildvorstellung, 1920/1930er Jahre. Cited in: Wolfgang Storch, Georg Schrimpf und Maria Uhden: Leben und Werk, Berlin 1985, p. 167).
Schrimpf's depictions of landscapes were often perceived by his contemporaries in terms of an important dialogue with nature. In Richard Bie's 1930 volume “Deutsche Malerei der Gegenwart”, for example, the author decidedly emphasises the transcendental character of Schrimpf's landscapes: “The tempo of the finite is superseded by the tempo of the infinite. Calm and not haste, not discord but solace, not outrage but optimism lie over creation. This is far from rendering these paintings idyllic. They are classical in the strict sense of attitude and dignity.” (Richard Bie, Der sachliche Kreis: Georg Schrimpf, in: idem, Deutsche Malerei der Gegenwart, Weimar 1930. Cited in: Wolfgang Storch, op. cit., p. 167).