Oil on canvas
Signed and dated "1 VIII. 19" lower left. With inscription: "Münter 1919 Landschaft mit Figur" in blue pen as well as "L 347" in chalk on verso. 31,5 x 41,5 cm (12,4 x 16,3 in)
With a sticker on verso, there with number "245".

Accompanied by a written expertise from the Gabriele Münter- and Johannes Eichner-Foundation dated 11 November 2010. The painting will be included into the catalog raisonné of Gabriele Münter's paintings under the title "Landschaft mit Figur".

PROVENANCE: Galerie Thomas, Munich.
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 to make reverse glass paintings, 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 characterization. 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 fall 1917 she moved to Copenhagen.

The years in Scandinavia led to another change of Gabriele Münter’s style. Influenced by the circle around Sigrid Hjertén, Münter’s color palette becomes cooler. On the island of Bornholm, where this work may have been made, in summer 1919, Münter reverts to a more liberal coloring which would become predominant in her work after her return to Germany. Münter quite enjoyed views from an elevated position over vast landscapes, she did not only execute it in this work, but also in many landscapes from the Staffelsee. The female figure in the foreground is rather unusual in this composition that evokes associations with Southern French impressions whereas it can clearly be identified as a northern landscape. A lovely and slightly rhythmic arrangement of the various levels of this charming composition adds an extra optical appeal.

She traveled 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 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].