Lot 8 Dα

“Sonniger Garten” is a key painting from an important phase in August Macke's early career. It was created in 1908, which was an eventful and seminal year for the artist. In the spring he travelled through Italy with his future fiancée Elisabeth Gerhardt and her family, occupying himself with early and high Renaissance art. In the summer he set out on his second journey to Paris, together with Elisabeth and her uncle Bernhard Koehler, who had become an important patron of Macke. There he had the opportunity to see outstanding works by the pointillists and impressionists in the galleries of Bernheim-Jeune, Durand-Ruel and Vollard. He had been heavily influenced by French artists since his first journey to Paris in 1907 - Paul Cézanne, in particular, had become a role model whom he admired to a fault. Macke sought to capture the feeling of modern life in its colourful diversity and dynamism. In 1907 he wrote to Elisabeth: “In the dead corners of olden times I no longer find life, our life, this colourful glow in our sky, buildings and boulevards” (cited in: August Macke ganz privat, exh. cat. Kunsthaus Stade/Städt. Museen Freiburg/August Macke Haus Bonn 2009-2011, p. 38).
The impressionistic, atmospherically delicate style of painting he saw in Paris made its way into his work, and our picture provides a striking testament to this. It shows the garden of the Gerhardt family on a bright summer day. Our gaze is guided over the high fence surrounding the carefully tended garden and past the rustic-looking area around it to the elevated architectural ensemble of the mental hospital then known as the “Königliche Universitätsklinik für Psychische- und Nervenkranke” and now known as the “LVR-Klinik”.
The painting is veritably permeated with light; the leaves of the trees and bushes cast shadows filled with delicate colours. The woman seated on the lawn in a dark dress and hat is surely Elisabeth Gerhardt. Macke has laid out her figure in a transparent structure consisting of open hatching, thus simultaneously capturing the delicate flecks of light described on her form by the sunlight.
The artist became engaged to Elisabeth on Christmas in 1908 after having to report for his year of military service in October of that busy year. Macke had already been welcome to come and go as he pleased at the house of the hospitable Gerhardt family long before their engagement, and the family enjoyed their garden as a place to spend time together. The couple were married in October 1909. In 1910, when they returned to Bonn after their long stay by the Tegernsee, where their son Walter was born, the Gerhardts let the young family use a house on their estates - today's August Macke House - as their home and studio. The family garden would also continue to play an important role in the life and work of August Macke, as demonstrated by a series of garden pictures created in 1911/1912.
The outstanding work offered here has been assigned special significance as one of the earliest garden pictures and has been prominently exhibited many times.