Max Liebermann

Gina Freund, Vienna (possibly acquired from the artist)
Wilhelm Freund, United Kingdom (by descent from the above)
By descent from the above to the present owner

Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle & Berlin, Alte Nationalgalerie, Im Garten von Max Liebermann, 2004-05, no. 47, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Leicester, New Walk Museum & Art Gallery (on loan 2004-09)

The canvas is not lined and there appear to be no signs of retouching visible under UV light. Apart from very few tiny fly spots in some areas, this work is in good original condition. Colours: Fairly accurate although the colours are overall much brighter and more vibrant and the yellows are stronger in the original. The impasto is richer in the original.
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Haus und Terrasse nach Südwesten is a beautiful example of Max Liebermann's depiction of his garden at the Wannsee in Berlin. The painting captures one of the most atmospheric views of the artist's garden and villa rendered here with a warmly infused light. After commissioning his Wannsee villa in 1909, the artist spent many years painting his garden from various angles, sometimes focusing on the enclosed, cultivated patches of flowers while at other times representing the open expanses.

The artist's practise of painting en plein air, and his method of exploring the same subject from a variety of viewpoints, demonstrates his status as the most important German post-Impressionist painter. 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. Haus und Terrasse nach Südwesten is an elegantly composed work painted in quick, Impressionistic brush strokes of green, yellow and ochre punctuated by the jewel like spots of red of the flowers on the terrace.

In the present work, the painter vividly captures the intense colours of the flower bed and the atmospheric dappled sunshine in front of the villa. The application of impasto and the use of strong reds, greens, yellows and whites are testimony to Liebermann's admiration of painters such as Manet, Monet and Van Gogh. Haus und Terrasse nach Südwesten gives a wonderfully nostalgic insight into the life of Liebermann and is one of the most alluring views of the Wannsee garden in the artist's œuvre.              

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Interior of Wilhelm Freund's villa with Haus und Terrasse nach Südwesten (illustrated opposite), Vienna, 1930s