Lot 501 N

E 206 vividly demonstrates the characteristic development that Rupprecht Geiger's oeuvre underwent in the 1950s. The radiant power of colour as well as a clear structure move into the foreground and appear together as a holistic artistic concept.
In the present painting, the strong suggestive pull from the circular motif results in an intensive blue colouration. On the left hand and lower side, the blue colour field is framed; in the lower margin, the deep blue fades into a warm shade of red. However, on the left hand side, a distinctive change takes place: the strong blue ends at a distinct edge and borders on a white line that rapidly develops into a dark black up to the left margin.
'The paintings turn more and more to the absolute. The starting point of the landscape seems almost forgotten. Form and colour develop their own, independent system of coordinates. Circular expanding surface compartments and hard-edged areas tending rather towards the rectangle, are allocated in high contrast in front of backgrounds that, with their modulated flow of colour, often suggest horizons and show transitions from areas of light into areas of shadow or vice versa. Geiger's varyingly interrelated compositional elements, conduct their own dialogue in these 'cosmic' rooms. In these works that underline Geiger's very personal, seemingly isolated position within the German art scene following 1945, blue and red still prevail in combination with other shades of colour but these two primary colours dominate the paintings almost continuously.' (Rolf-Gunter Dienst, Von der Landschaft zum Farbraum, in: Peter-Klaus Schuster (ed.), Rupprecht Geiger, exhib.cat. Haus der Kunst, Munich 1988, p. 31-32).