Hyde Park from 1926 is a captivating painting by German-Jewish Impressionist painter Lesser Ury, who is most famous for his energetic cityscapes and idyllic landscapes. The depicted scene perfectly captures the essence of London’s iconic Hyde Park, one of the city’s most beloved green spaces until today. It is a beautiful example of Ury’s ability to depict a certain moment in time by displaying the interplay of light, colour and movement.

The painting features park-strollers and spectators of a horse race embedded in a vivid colour palette and different textures. As in his famous paintings of Berlin at night, Ury masterfully extracts the essence of modern city life between amusement and technical progress reflecting on the well-known characteristics of the British capital. Due to their velocity, the Jockeys and horses are boldly depicted in an open brushwork and are juxtaposed beside a street with a dense column of cars representing 20^th century horsepower. Lesser Ury endeavored to show "the particular blend of closeness and distance that characterises human encounters in the public spaces of the street” (quoted in Berlin Metropolis Jews and the New Culture 1890-1918, University of California Press, 1999, pgs 118-119) and as to be seen in this case, in public parks.

Ury’s confident use of light and shadow is especially striking in the present work. He employed the plein air technique in perfection, which captured the play of light through his distinct brushstrokes and gives the painting a sense of spontaneity and intimacy. Different hues of green and brown are masterfully blended and evoke the vivid interplay of clear sunlight in the grand trees, on the racetrack and its dark contrast against the canopy of leaves. This creates an almost lifelike quality of the painting and presents the viewer with the opportunity to almost feel the warm sunlight and a gentle blast of air from the passing racehorses. Ury’s unique eye to capture typical life of a modern city and his exceptional ability to empathise with its inhabitants, underlines the everlasting importance of an urban green oasis.