Provenance:
The artist’s studio
The artist’s estate
Gabriele Münter und Johannes Eichner-Stiftung, Munich
Galerie Gunzenhauser, München
Private collection, Bavaria
Exhibitions/Literature:
Gabriele Münter: Aquarelle, Handzeichnungen, Galerie Gunzenhauser, Munich, 2 Nov 1978 – 31 Jan 1979, cat. no. 19, with colour illustration on the cover
In 1908 Gabriele Münter and Wassily Kandinsky discovered the town of Murnau am Staffelsee, nestled between rolling hills and the high mountains in the countryside surrounding Munich. In 1909 the artist purchased a house on the outskirts of the town. The landscape of Murnau, as well as its folk art—particularly reverse-glass painting—became important sources of inspiration for her work.
The condensation of the landscape into large areas, the neglect of perspective in favour of the picture surface, the simplification of contours to heighten expressive effect, and the growing independence of colour from its natural model became characteristic features of her painting. These elements also define the watercolour “Vorgebirgslandschaft bei Murnau”. It depicts a gentle green hilly landscape with scattered trees set before a high mountain massif rendered in blue. The sky, with the moon already risen, is tinged with red, while mist rises from the meadow landscape.
In 1934 Münter returned to this motif in a slightly varied form in the oil painting “Berglandschaft mit Mond” (estate no. L 159, Murnau, Schlossmuseum). According to Annika Öhmer, this work—and thus also the watercolour—depicts “the path to the Schwaiganger Alm to the south-west of Murnau, high above the Loisach valley, set against the impressive mountain massif of the Heimgarten.”(1) In contrast to the oil painting, which is executed in a more detailed and finely structured manner, the watercolour places the focus on the mood of nature, particularly the phenomenon of rising mist, and on a more generous abstraction through the clearer consolidation of the landscape into large areas. Annette Brunner
(1) In: Annegret Hoberg, Helmut Friedel (eds.), Gabriele Münter 1877–1962. Retrospektive, Munich 1992, p. 291, cat. no. 219.
