작품 상세

Signed with the artist's initials and dated '46' lower right.Accompanied by a confirmation by Rainer Beck, Coswig, dated 12 October 2011. The painting will be included in the catalogue raisonné of paintings by Otto Dix currently under preparation. It is registered in the Otto-Dix-Archive, Vaduz, under the no. 1946/39, we would like to thank Rainer Pfefferkorn for his information.Ever since the artist's arrival in Hemmenhofen in 1936, the landscapes around lake Constance provided Otto Dix with a rich source of inspiration. The present work shows a view of the lake and the Swiss town of Steckborn, as seen from the Höri peninsula. Otto Dix had already painted this view from a slightly different perspective in 1944 (cf. Löffler 1944/18).The artist also stopped painting in the glazing manner of the old masters in 1944, and instead began to work using a light alla prima technique which he maintained until the end of his career. His colour palette also changed dramatically in contrast to his earlier phase, in which darker, warmer hues predominated. Otto Dix developed this new, more liberated style in the years following the war and it led him to unprecedented artistic productivity. In the present work he almost entirely relinquishes realistic colouration in favour of pale pastels mixed with a great deal of white. The ploughed field, the shimmering surface of the lake under the bright sunlight and the scattering of clouds in the otherwise clear blue sky all appear to absorb and enhance the colours of the blooming trees. These are shining in shades of light rose, turquoise and blue which almost appear to glow and light up their surroundings. The image conveys an exaggerated and unreal vision of spring, deriving from the artist's passion for experimentation at this time.