Oil on canvas. Signed in the lower left. Once more signed as well as titled and numbered “XVI” on the reverse of the canvas. 100 x 80 cm.
This painting is entioned in the 1921 studio book: “XVI. Sonne im Schilf, 100 x 80”. [EH].
- Bold play with the observer's viewing habits: is the picture upside down? - Surreal-real - a suspenseful orchestration of perspective and light. - An extraordinarily modern reflection of the sun as a luminous spectacle of color on the water. - From the important Berlin collection of Pechstein patron Carl Steinbart, which includes 25 Pechstein paintings, among them “Lotte mit Kopftuch” (1919), as well as paintings by Munch, Courbet and Slevogt.
LITERATURE: Aya Soika, Max Pechstein. Das Werkverzeichnis der Ölgemälde, vol. 2: 1919-1954, Munich 2011, no.1921/35. - - Lempertz, Cologne, auction 463, December 3, 1960, lot 382. Lempertz, Cologne, auction 473, June 11/12, 1963, lot 542.

Max Pechstein. Gemälde, Aquarelle, Graphiken, Galerie Gunzenhauser, Munich May 10 - June 15, 1970 , no. 5, p. 6

Presumably from the collection of Carl Steinbart (1852-1923), Berlin (acquired directly from the artist around 1921, until 1923). Presumably from the estate of Carl Steinbart: Collection of Eva Beyer, née Steinbart (inherited from the above in 1923). Collection of Dr. Conrad and Elsa Doebbeke, Berlin (probably directly from the above, until 1960: Lempertz). Private collection, Cologne (acquired from the above in 1960: Lempertz). Private collection, Hesse (1963: Lempertz). Galerie Peter Griebert, Munich (until 1970). Private collection, Bavaria (acquired from the above in 1970. Family-owned ever since

"Sonne im Schilf" (Sun in the Reeds) testifies to Max Pechstein's fascination with the unique depiction of light and landscape. The artist repeatedly painted the sun and sea. He was enchanted by the play of the waves and how the light danced on them. He was mesmerized by the exuberant play of colors and shapes in the clouds and waves, the changing times of day, and the changing weather. Our painting is unique because Max Pechstein put all his expressiveness and sentiment into a decidedly small section of the landscape staged as a large format. There is no view of a vast landscape or the sea. Instead, Max Pechstein focused on a small section of a bank covered with dense reeds and fish traps set up to dry in front of a row of trees. The warm and clear sunlight becomes tangible in the bright yellow sky; trees, reeds, and the formally unique reflection of the sun make the painting glow. Max Pechstein pulls the sun down to the ground, making it a bold and extraordinary backdrop for the scene alone. This reflection appears like a Delaunay-like color spectacle between nature and the color of the sun's reflection; these formal differences make the scene a genuinely extraordinary composition. Thus, it is perhaps unsurprising that the painting in question comes from the significant collection of Carl Steinbart (1852-1923). Steinbart was an authorized signatory at the bank Mendelssohn & Co. in Berlin, and he “compiled not only a collection of over sixty Max Slevogt paintings after 1918 but also a considerable collection of expressionist art, including numerous works by Pechstein” (Soika, vol. 1, p. 125). It is said that the earliest work in the collection was a version of Gustave Courbet's “La Vague.” Steinbart's collection included a total of 25 Pechstein paintings, the earliest of which was from 1917. By 1918, they must have met in person during a portrait commission for a portrait of his daughter Dora (“Die chinesische Jacke,” Soika 1918/44). [EH]

Condition report on request katalogisierung@kettererkunst.de