3348
Hauptmann, Karl
1880 Freiburg i.Br. - 1947 Todtnau.
«Waldinneres (inside the forest)». Creek in the summer fir forest.
Oil on plywood. Signed lower left. Verso signed again and dated 1942, on the artist's original label signed again, handwritten dated 1940, titled and inscribed «Original. Studien. Oel! (original. studies. oil!)» as well as with the data of the work, the price and the owner.
H 50, W 70 cm (support). Framed.
Between the bare trunks of old conifers, one looks across a babbling brook to a clearing bordered by small firs. Scattered shrubbery and lush, dark green grass cover the forest floor of this enchanted, shady grove. By all appearances, it is a cool, peaceful refuge of forest solitude, a pristine retreat to linger and dream in the heat of summer. Embodying the mysterious and unconscious in its impenetrability and seeming infinity, the forest has exerted a magical pull as a projection surface for fairy tale visions at least since the beginning of the 19th century, an appeal that continues to this day. With this forest interior, reminiscent of the religious inwardness of a church interior, Karl Hauptmann created the archetype of a sentimental nature sanctuary and thus thematized the topos of irrationally intense veneration and mythical transfiguration of the forest, a characteristic, recurrent element of the culture of the German-speaking world.
Provenance: by donation passed into the property of the housekeeper of the artist; private collection Bad Krozingen.
Catalogue raisonné: Hötzel-Dickel G40-2.

Condition report