Oil on cardboard
Estate number L 231. 27 x 40,3 cm (10,6 x 15,8 in)
With an old label carrying the stamped number "786" on verso.

Accompanied by a photo expertise from Dr. Hans Konrad Röthel, Munich, dated 28 May 1966, which was once more confirmed on 3 August 1970.
Accompanied by letter from the Gabriele Münter- and Johannes Eichner-Foundation, Munich, dated 9 July 1998, confirming the estate number "L 231", the writing also confirms that the works was sold onthe art market by the foundation.

PROVENANCE: Sold on the art market by the Gabriele Münter- and Johannes Eichner- Foundation.
Galerie Änne Abels, Cologne.
Private collection North Rhine-Westphalia.

Gabriele Münter received her first art lessons at the 'Damen-Kunstschule' (Ladies Art School) in Düsseldorf and then attended the Society of Woman Artists as M. Dasio's and A. Jank's pupil. Then she went to Munich where she visited the private art school 'Phalanx' which was run by Wassily Kandinsky. In 1904 Münter and Kandinsky began travelling together: to Holland, Italy, France - where they met Rousseau and Matisse - and elsewhere. Stylistically she now distanced herself from Impressionism and her works began showing Fauve and Expressionist influences. In 1908 she and Kandinsky began leading a calmer life in their apartment in Munich. They often met with Klee, Marc, Macke, Jawlensky and Marianne von Werefkin. The country house Münter bought in Murnau provided an ideal working environment. In 1909 the artist began painting glass, a medium which would later also be adopted by Kandinsky, Marc, Macke and Campendonk. Münter was a member of the 'Neue Künstlervereinigung München' for two years and in 1911 she joined the 'Blaue Reiter', the artist group founded by Kandinsky and Marc. She was interested in Kandinsky's development towards abstract art, but her own works continued to be figurative. Her landscapes, figurative scenes and portraits show a reduction to the essential with an inclination towards humorous characterisation. When war broke out, Münter and Kandinsky at first moved to Switzerland. Münter, however, decided a year later to go to Stockholm, where she separated from Kandinsky. In late autumn 1917 she moved to Copenhagen. She travelled a lot during the 1920s and spent some time in Munich, Murnau, Cologne and Berlin. After 1931 she spent most of her time in Murnau and Munich.

In the rural environment of Murnau Gabriele Münter found the largest part of her motifs that would dominate almost her entire œuvre. Münter depicted the rural world at the foothills of the Alps with its hills and mountains within reach in her very own manner with a strong self-reference. In a mixture between a naive perception, showing notions of her early interest in reverse glass painting, and a factual rationalization of the image surface, Münter found her own imagery which also endured the difficult 1930s. Münter reduced the statement to the essentials, however, with a great love for the detail. She attained her own expression without an ingratiation to folk art, the motifs are still of a rural nature, however, they are entirely unsentimental.

In 1956 she received the Culture Prize of the City of Munich. The year 1960 saw the first exhibition of Münter's work in the US, followed in 1961 by a large show in the Mannheim Kunsthalle. The artist died in her house at Murnau on 19 May 1962. [KD].