Lot 344 D

Directly after completing his A-levels, Gert Wollheim travelled to Lake Garda, where he would receive his first artistic training with Hans Lietzmann in the summer of 1911. Wollheim also used this period to travel: “In the months from May to September of 1911, he supplemented his studies with journeys through northern Italy, all the way to Venice. In the “Galleria delle belle Arti” he saw, among other things, paintings by Carpaccio and Tintoretto. Wollheim returned back to his parents' home deeply impressed. His resolution to become an artist was now incontrovertible, his decision had been made.” (exhib. cat. Gert H. Wollheim: 1894-1974; Gemälde, Zeichnungen und Dokumente; Zum 90. Geburtstag des Künstlers, Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf 1984, p. 9). Our watercolour demonstrates what a lasting impression Venice must have made on the young Wollheim; it is simultaneously a longing look backwards and an ardent ode to “La Serenissima”.
Wollheim married Leni Stein in 1921. An oil painting with a motif of Venice, "Meine Frau vor ihrem Palazzo in Venedig" exhibited at the "Erste Internationale Kunstausstellung" at Leonhard Tietz department store in Düsseldorf in 1922, remains missing (cf. Euler-Schmidt 38).