Max Liebermann

Private Collection, Germany & Israel
Private Collection, Vermont
Mitchell, Innes & Nash, New York (acquired in 2005) 
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Tel Aviv, Museum of Tel Aviv, Max Liebermann 1947-1935, 1935 no. 40 or 42 (titled as Garden in Wannsee)

The canvas is not lined. There are scattered spots of retouching, mostly smaller than 1cm. sq., along the upper edge of the canvas and three larger areas of retouching, two lines of less than 3cm. long and one area of retouching 2 by 2cm. to the upper right corner. There are two spots of retouching towards the lower left corner and a line of scattered spots of retouching approx 10cm. long, running from the lower left corner. Apart from a 20cm. line of small scattered sports of retouching running 2cm. above the lower edge, this work is in fairly good condition.
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Max Liebermann's Wannseegarten, painted circa 1923, depicts the artist's garden at his house on the Wannsee near Berlin. Having attained considerable recognition as an artist and a fair degree of financial success, Liebermann spared no expense on his garden, planting formal flower beds, exotic shrubs and thick hedges. The artist's practice of painting en plein air, coupled with his method of exploring the same subject from a variety of viewpoints, situated him at the vanguard of the German Post-Impressionist movement. Liebermann was strongly inspired by the French Impressionists and was one of the pioneering collectors of Impressionist art in Germany. Like Monet, who never tired of painting his flower garden at Giverny, Liebermann found a constant source of inspiration in his rich Wannsee garden.

Wannseegarten is a vibrant work, painted in quick, Impressionistic brushstrokes of greens and ochres, punctuated by the jewel-like spots of red and pastel-blue flowers in the back and foreground of the composition. The thick impasto of the paint surface and the use of different shades of green, reds, light blues and whites illustrates the influence of painters such as Manet, Monet and Van Gogh on Liebermann's work of this period. Wannseegarten is a fine showcase for the artist's fluid brushwork, and the combination of brilliant colour and virtuoso paint handling make it one of Liebermann's most dynamic garden views.