Man lying beneath a Blossoming Tree, Paula Modersohn-Becker
Paula Modersohn-Becker
Man lying beneath a Blossoming Tree
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Paula Modersohn-Becker

Man lying beneath a Blossoming Tree, 1903


Dimensions
52 x 74 cm
Physical Description
Oil on cardboard
Inventory Number
2214
Acquisition
Acquired in 2001 with the Werner Wirthle Bequest
Status
On display, 1st upper level, Modern Art, room 11

Texts

About the Work

"She hates the conventional and now she is making the mistake of preferring to make everything angular, ugly, strange and wooden. The colour is fantastic, but the form?" - wrote Otto Modersohn in 1903 on the works of his wife. Paula Modersohn-Becker had just returned from Paris when she created this painting. Full of new impressions, she created a work packed with tension between spatiality and surface. The only three-dimensional element is the tree, which stands out against the landscape. The man lying beneath it seems to fuse with his surroundings. It is not surprising that Modersohn-Becker's colleagues in Worpswede reacted with incomprehension.

About the Acquisition

The Frankfurt editor and executive director of Societäts Publishing House, Werner Wirthle (1908-2001), was a member of the Städel administration for twenty years. He began his art collection back in the 1920s and was particularly interested in modern sculpture. His collection of paintings reflects his close friendship with the painter Max Ackermann. Wirthle donated single works during his lifetime and bequeathed his entire collection and his heritable assets to the Städel.

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Last update

02.12.2024