Lot 69 Dα

Jawlensky repeatedly painted still lifes throughout his entire career. Initially inspired by Paul Cezanne and later seeking orientation in Henri Matisse, he arrived at his own chromatic and compositional style around 1911/1912. He primarily arranged fruit, jugs, statuettes and – repeatedly – flowers in front of boldly patterned wall hangings to paint them in luminous colours outlined with black contours. In the “Blumen im Krug” here, he has done without the contour lines and used a broad brush to apply the thinned-down colours in a feathery and soft manner comparable to that of his “Variations”. The colours red, violet, yellow, blue and green only summarily describe the flowers and the broad-bellied vase. In the areas around the outside, the boundaries between the flowers and background become blurred and, as a result, the individual passages appear abstract upon closer inspection. In Jawlensky’s memoirs, which are a helpful source regarding the significance of his floral still lifes, he writes: “When I felt some relief in my hands, I immediately painted large pictures, only still lifes, mostly flowers. They are very beautiful in their colours and were a big success with people” (cited in: exh. cat. Munich/Baden-Baden 1983, p. 332).
The cheerful colours of this floral still life lead us to infer that this was a peaceful and calm period in Jawlensky’s life. However, this is misleading: as a Russian citizen, the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 meant that he had to leave Germany within 48 hours– together with Marianne von Werefkin and Helene Nesnakomoff, the mother of his then 12-year-old son.