Pantai Parangtritis (Parangtritis Beach)

This season Christie's is pleased to present two outstanding works of one of the most significant artists within the canon of 20th Century Southeast Asian art, Indonesian master Affandi. During the 1950s the artist developed the expressionistic technique of painting straight from the tube. He strongly relied on the use of thick, unguent pastels which created the charactestic three-dimensional impasto we nowadays identify with his work. Affandi, who most often painted plein-air, found inspiration in the world around him.
Pantai Parangtritis (Parangtritis Beach) (Lot 3337) is a fine example of Affandi's classic expressionistic style. The vividness of the scene is successfully reflected due to the dramatic quality of the painting and the use of intense colours. The well-known beach depicted in the scene is located in Yogyakarta, a frequent destination of the artist. The bay, its towering cliffs, the unleashed sea and the sky melt together into a dynamic and keenly expressive composition.