.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Painted in 1908, Haus bei Murnau belongs to a defining moment in the career of Gabriele Münter, a pioneer of German Expressionism and founding member of Der Blaue Reiter. A direct expression of the artist’s response to the Bavarian village of Murnau am Staffelsee and its picturesque surroundings, the present work emerges at the point in which Münter first resolves her visual vocabulary into the bold, expressive style for which she is best known today.
In 1902, Münter enrolled at the progressive Phalanx School in Munich—one of the few institutions in Germany at the time to admit women—where she studied under and met Wassily Kandinsky. His early encouragement helped her move beyond academic conventions toward a more expressive use of color and form. Their relationship soon took a romantic turn, and between 1903 and 1907, they travelled widely across Europe and North Africa, encountering the work of artists such as Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, and Henri Matisse, as well as the broader currents of Fauvism; these experiences proved decisive in shaping Münter’s embrace of bold color and a departure from strict naturalism upon her return to Germany in 1908.
That spring, Münter and Kandinsky journeyed through the Bavarian countryside before arriving in Murnau, a small market town along the shores of the Staffelsee, framed by the foothills of the Alps and overlooking the Murnauer Moos. Enchanted by its possibilities, they invited Alexej von Jawlensky and Marianne von Werefkin to join them. By the summer, the four were engaged in an intense period of artistic exchange, developing a new painterly language defined by simplified form, flattened space, and heightened color. Münter later recalled this radical shift: “after a short period of agony, I took a great leap forward—from copying nature… to feeling the content of things—abstracting—conveying an extract” (quoted in A. Hoberg, Wassily Kandinsky and Gabriele Munter, 1994, p. 14).
The present lot, Haus bei Murnau, is a direct manifestation of this breakthrough, articulating Münter’s nascent embrace of high-keyed color and distilled form. The house is rendered in a pale orange hue, its geometry defined by a cloisonné-like turquoise contour echoed in the tree at right. Rich greens animate the composition—in the bright shutters, the surrounding vegetation, and the arching branch overhead—while the landscape unfolds in broad, unmodulated fields of saturated color. A band of deep red earth cuts across the foreground, while the cool blues and greens of the distant hills establish a rhythmic structure across the surface. A vertical tree trunk at right serves as both a compositional anchor and framing device, reinforcing the painting’s flattened pictorial logic as depth is deliberately curtailed and the distinction between foreground and background begins to dissolve. Throughout, color assumes the primary expressive role, articulating Münter’s emotive response to the landscape.
The artist’s connection to Murnau soon deepened. In 1909, she purchased a house in the town, later known as the “Russian House”—a nickname reflecting both Kandinsky’s presence and the steady flow of visiting artists, many of whom maintained Russian ties. Münter and Kandinsky remained together until 1914, when Kandinsky, as a Russian national, was forced to leave Germany at the outbreak of the First World War. Murnau, however, remained central to Münter’s life and work; she would continue to live there until her death in 1962.
In 1902, Münter enrolled at the progressive Phalanx School in Munich—one of the few institutions in Germany at the time to admit women—where she studied under and met Wassily Kandinsky. His early encouragement helped her move beyond academic conventions toward a more expressive use of color and form. Their relationship soon took a romantic turn, and between 1903 and 1907, they travelled widely across Europe and North Africa, encountering the work of artists such as Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, and Henri Matisse, as well as the broader currents of Fauvism; these experiences proved decisive in shaping Münter’s embrace of bold color and a departure from strict naturalism upon her return to Germany in 1908.
That spring, Münter and Kandinsky journeyed through the Bavarian countryside before arriving in Murnau, a small market town along the shores of the Staffelsee, framed by the foothills of the Alps and overlooking the Murnauer Moos. Enchanted by its possibilities, they invited Alexej von Jawlensky and Marianne von Werefkin to join them. By the summer, the four were engaged in an intense period of artistic exchange, developing a new painterly language defined by simplified form, flattened space, and heightened color. Münter later recalled this radical shift: “after a short period of agony, I took a great leap forward—from copying nature… to feeling the content of things—abstracting—conveying an extract” (quoted in A. Hoberg, Wassily Kandinsky and Gabriele Munter, 1994, p. 14).
The present lot, Haus bei Murnau, is a direct manifestation of this breakthrough, articulating Münter’s nascent embrace of high-keyed color and distilled form. The house is rendered in a pale orange hue, its geometry defined by a cloisonné-like turquoise contour echoed in the tree at right. Rich greens animate the composition—in the bright shutters, the surrounding vegetation, and the arching branch overhead—while the landscape unfolds in broad, unmodulated fields of saturated color. A band of deep red earth cuts across the foreground, while the cool blues and greens of the distant hills establish a rhythmic structure across the surface. A vertical tree trunk at right serves as both a compositional anchor and framing device, reinforcing the painting’s flattened pictorial logic as depth is deliberately curtailed and the distinction between foreground and background begins to dissolve. Throughout, color assumes the primary expressive role, articulating Münter’s emotive response to the landscape.
The artist’s connection to Murnau soon deepened. In 1909, she purchased a house in the town, later known as the “Russian House”—a nickname reflecting both Kandinsky’s presence and the steady flow of visiting artists, many of whom maintained Russian ties. Münter and Kandinsky remained together until 1914, when Kandinsky, as a Russian national, was forced to leave Germany at the outbreak of the First World War. Murnau, however, remained central to Münter’s life and work; she would continue to live there until her death in 1962.