Erich Heckel

Private Collection, Berlin (until 1936) and South America (from 1936)

Enrique Mayer, Uruguay & Argentina (by descent from the above)

Private Collection, Argentina (acquired from the family of the above. Sold: Sotheby's, London, 20th June 2005, lot 24)

Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Parklandschaft was created during the most intense and inventive period of collaboration between Heckel and his fellow painters with whom he founded Die Brücke, and exemplifies their development away from the influence of Neo-Impressionism, which had characterised much of Heckel’s work up to 1908, towards a much more spontaneous approach. The paint is applied in rapid, energetic brushstrokes, and the palette is dominated by bright primary colours reminiscent of the Fauve painters’ Mediterranean landscapes. This light, immediate quality of the artist’s technique and the bright, colourful palette were influenced by his trip to Italy during the previous year. Stylistically, Parklandschaft reflects his move away from the heavy impasto technique he was using in 1907 whilst strongly influenced by the work of Van Gogh. In the present painting, Heckel used lighter, thinner paint which is applied to the canvas in rapid, decisive brushstrokes.

 

In 1910 Heckel travelled to Dangast, a small fishing-village on Germany’s North Sea, as well as to Moritzburg, where he painted together with Kirchner and Pechstein. Attracted by the freedom, wilderness and simplicity of these remote places away from the city, Heckel produced works in which the fluidity and expressiveness of the brushstrokes reflect his sense of artistic liberation. Painted in a lush, verdant park near Dresden, Parklandschaft is characterised by a dynamic and highly expressive, Fauve-like palette, in which the strong, flame-like red stands in sharp contrast to the deep blues and greens. Devoid of human presence, the only hint at civilisation in this work is the road stretching across the composition, with a bridge in the centre.