Hermann Max Pechstein Lot n° 731

Hermann Max Pechstein (1881 Zwickau - Berlin 1955) - Red House on the Lagoon. Watercolor and pencil on drawing pad paper. 1919. ca. 26.5 x 34.5 cm. Signed and dated lower right. With a photographic expertise by Julia Pechstein, Hamburg, dated 12.9.2023. The watercolor is listed as a work by Max Pechstein in the documentation of the Max Pechstein Urheberrechtsgemeinschaft under the title "Rotes Haus am Haff", 1919. - Idyllic coastal view with a dynamic, sweeping composition - Painted in Pechstein's beloved summer residence Nidden on the Curonian Lagoon - After the difficult years of the First World War, Pechstein perceived his summer stay in 1919 as a true 'rebirth' From 1909 to 1920, Max Pechstein spent his summer months in the East Prussian town of Nidden on the Curonian Spit. The long beach with its extensive dune landscape and the famous shifting sand dune, the fishing harbor with its picturesque fishermen's huts and a quiet hinterland that is hardly noticed by bathers provide him with respite from the vibrant life in Berlin and at the same time offer an important source of inspiration for his art. Pechstein felt a close connection to the simple way of life of the fishermen and farmers and was artistically fascinated by the harsh Baltic Sea landscape with its clear Nordic coastal light and rapidly changing weather conditions. Julia Pechstein, the artist's granddaughter, writes in the expertise: "The watercolor belongs to a series of works that were all created during his summer stay in Nidden on the Curonian Spit in 1919. The view is of the lagoon. In a letter to his friend, the art historian Paul Fechter, dated October 2, 1919, Max Pechstein describes his feelings about this stay, the first trip after the First World War: '(...) truly yes, one could think I had died, I probably did, died in colors, canvases, pictures. Everything drowns in colors for me. My brain is filled only with images and the idea of what is to be painted chases me from one place to another. Never before have I experienced such a time, such a rebirth!" Provenance: Formerly private property, Switzerland. Taxation: Differential taxation (VAT: Margin Scheme).