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Lot Essay
In 1914, Münter traveled with long-term companion and fellow artist Wassily Kandinsky to Switzerland, where Kandinsky soon left her for Moscow. In order to maintain contact, they arranged for relatives of Herwarth Walden, the owner of Der Sturm Galerie in Berlin, to forward their letters to one another via Sweden. The couple's correspondence grew increasingly strained in this period, however, and Münter left for Stockholm in July of 1915 with the intention of meeting Kandinsky in the neutral country to restore their relationship.
The reconciliation would prove unsuccessful. Kandinsky left Stockholm for good on 16 March 1916, the day after the close of Münter's one woman show at Galleri Gummeson. Despite promises of marriage upon his return, issued for the last time in the summer of 1916, Kandinsky courted Moscovite Nina von Andreevskaya shortly thereafter and married her in February 1917. Münter would never see Kandinsky again.
The present lot was likely painted in the spring of Kandinsky's flight and increasingly hollow promises, its bright, vivid coloration and lush plein air setting belying Münter's acute personal disappointment. As Reinhold Heller has written: "only to the landscape did [Münter] turn with joy, no matter what the circumstances of her life were. In it, she found release" (Gabriele Münter, The Years of Expressionism 1903-1920, New York, 1997, p. 127).
The reconciliation would prove unsuccessful. Kandinsky left Stockholm for good on 16 March 1916, the day after the close of Münter's one woman show at Galleri Gummeson. Despite promises of marriage upon his return, issued for the last time in the summer of 1916, Kandinsky courted Moscovite Nina von Andreevskaya shortly thereafter and married her in February 1917. Münter would never see Kandinsky again.
The present lot was likely painted in the spring of Kandinsky's flight and increasingly hollow promises, its bright, vivid coloration and lush plein air setting belying Münter's acute personal disappointment. As Reinhold Heller has written: "only to the landscape did [Münter] turn with joy, no matter what the circumstances of her life were. In it, she found release" (Gabriele Münter, The Years of Expressionism 1903-1920, New York, 1997, p. 127).