MUNICH.- It is a great document of a successful artistic transition: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner‘s oil painting “Unser Haus“ comes directly from the artist‘s estate. For the first time ever on the auction market, it will now be called up in the Autumn Auctions at
Ketterer Kunst on December 11/12. The interesting question is if it is going to break the million euro line.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner lived in the Grisons farmstead just below the Stafelalp together with his spouse Erna Schilling. “Unser Haus“, also known as the “Haus in den Lärchen“, is one of the earliest works from his Davos days and illustrates the incipient stylistic transition from the “Metropolitan Expressionism“ of his time in Dresden and Berlin to more simplified rural motifs. The colorful work makes the artist‘s deeply felt content and an increasing assertiveness in a life both eventful and fragile almost tangible. It will enter the race with an estimate of € 500,000-700,000.
Another remarkable artistic transition happened in autumn 1908 when Gabriele Münter, Wassily Kandinsky, Alexej von Jawlensky and Marianne von Werefkin congregated in Murnau after longer stays abroad. An impressionistic and late impressionistic style was replaced by a radical turn to a synthetic, expressive color painting. It was during this artistically significant time that Gabriele Münter‘s “Haus mit Schneebäumen in Kochel“ was made. The oil painting shows a view of the town Kochel, a very rare motif in Münter‘s œuvre. It comes from the artist‘s estate and boasts a consistent provenance. It is estimated at € 200,000-300,000.
Next to Heinz Mack‘s “Lichtfächer“ (estimate: € 120,000-150,000) and Otto Piene‘s “Auge“ (estimate: € 80,000-120,000) in the section of Post War Art, as well as Adrian Ghenie‘s self-portrait (estimate: € 50,000-70,000) from the department of Contemporary Art, fascinating artists ljke Willi Baumeister, Gotthard Graubner, Konrad Klapheck, Paul Klee, Walter Leistikow, Max Liebermann, Jeanne Mammen, Emil Nolde, Johann Wilhelm Schirmer and Alfons Walde also make their contributions.
