Petriturm in Soest

In 1904 the German artist Christian Rohlfs visited the medieval city of Soest, in North Rhine-Westfalia, for the first time and was immediately captivated. He returned on a number of occasions and completed numerous drawings and watercolors in the summer months. Years later Rohlfs would use these sketchbooks as the basis for his paintings. The churches of Soest were a favorite motif of the artist and accompanied him throughout his personal stylistic development.

On meeting Emil Nolde (1867–1956) in Soest in the summer of 1905, he turned to Expressionism. While his early pictures were characterized by a naturalistic pictorial language, the painting of St. Peter’s from 1918 has expressive-dynamic features. With rapid brushstrokes and employing a bold ultramarine, Rohlfs captured the church building’s characteristic appearance, recognizable from the tower’s sweeping Baroque spire. The fragmentary contour line blends harmoniously into the pulsating surface of the painting, while sky and architecture fuse to form a lively unity of form, color, and movement.