Landschaft mit gelbem Haus. 1916.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated lower left. Inscribed: "G. Münter. 1916.9 Landschaft mit gelbem Haus." on stretcher. Verso with estate stamp and with inscription in chalks "L.83". With label on stretcher with partly hand-written and partly stamped estate number "L 83" as well as with a stamped number "507". 41 x 52,5 cm (16,1 x 20,6 in). [KD].

PROVENANCE: Galerie Gunzenhauser, Munich.
Private collectioN Northern Germany (acquired from previously mentioned in 1979).

EXHIBITION: Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm 1917 (Annegret Hoberg/Helmut Friedel (publisher), Gabriele Münter 1877-1962 retrospective, Munich 1992, p. 75 with historic photograph of exhibition wall).
Gabriele Münter 1908-1933, travelling exhibition Bremen/Bochum 1933, Jena/Eisenach 1934, Altenburg/Stuttgart 1935, no 26 (with exhibition label on stretcher).

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.

After the outbreak of World War I Gabriele Münter and Wassily Kandinsky initially moved to Switzerland, after they had broken up they met again in Stockholm in 1915, where Münter met the circle of avant-gardeartists around Sigrid Hjertén, which, influenced by Matisse, were experimentingwith a decorative sensitivity in cool colors. In those days she developed an entirely new style that showed strong influences of her Swedish artist colleagues. Strong color values and soild forms, characteristic of her days with the "Blaue Reiter" give way to more pastel colors, almost amorphic forms and a disaggregation of the composition. The trees in the landscape with the yellow house are almost filigree, Münter placed both the cyclist as well as the yellow house at the edge of the scene. The interplay of forms is still visible, however, it shows an increased sensitivity. It was the year that Münter finally broke up withKandinsky, whose influence on her art can be observed in this work, he also had made his palette subject to a new direction, showing similar features. ButMünter remained autonomous in her art, staying true to herself, also in this difficult period. With new means and experience she created a landscape in her own style and expression.

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 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.