Pyke Koch

Sale, Christie's Amsterdam, November 2000, lot 279
Collectie Drs Loek Brons B.V., Amsterdam
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Rotterdam, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Pyke Koch, Schilderijen en Tekeningen, February - May 1995, no.106, illustrated

The painting is in very good condition.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

In the 1920's the cultural movement Surrealism arose throughout Europe.  In the fine arts Giorgio de Chirico was one of the big inspirators for this movement (see lot 59). The surrealists tried to capture the world beyond the visible reality. In the Netherlands this movement, called Magisch Realisme (Magic Realism) was represented by artists such as Pyke Koch, Carel Willink and Raoul Hynckes. A striking feature of their art is their highly realistic style. They reacted against the abstract movement and focussed on the technique which, according to them, had fallen into decay since impressionism. The result is a representation of finely painted elements of the recognisable world that are combined in an unusual way or set in a mysterious atmosphere, which evokes a strange and sometimes unsettling feeling.

 

Pyke Koch is represented in this sale with two paintings that show exactly this eeriness (see also lot 62). In 1938 he painted 'The Florentine Garden' which he revisited twice in 1968. These paintings have symbols and signs which reveal their erotic nature. In this work, he chose to focus on one single cypress which stands tall and erect behind an ancient wall. Koch loved to hide symbols in his paintings and here again we are inclined to read the tunnel and almost feminine sloping hills in the background as erotic references.