Kunsthalle Mannheim / Cem Yücetas
)nicht ausgestellt
Intro
With his »View of the Countryside«, Max Slevogt presents a scene from the hilly Palatinate landscape. Maintaining close ties with the region since the 1880s, he took numerous long trips to the Neukastel estate, owned by friends, which he bought in 1914. The area around Neukastel formed the starting point for his late landscape paintings. Employing a carefree al fresco painting technique schooled in French Impressionism—Slevogt revered Édouard Manet (1832–1883)—he staged the country views in bright colors and lively brushwork.
The »View of the Countryside« comes alive through the breadth of the panorama, the atmospheric light of the gray-blue sky, and numerous sketch-like details. The colors have a tangible freshness, while the scene’s liveliness is accentuated by Slevogt’s painting style, which, with its quick brushstrokes, evokes the fleeting quality of the instant and reveals the artist’s mastery.
Background
In addition to Liebermann and Corinth, Max Slevogt is one of the most important representatives of German Impressionism. He also attended the Academy of Art in Munich before moving to Berlin in 1901 and acquired an estate in Neukastel in the Palatinate in 1914. The prospect of the light-filled, hilly landscape of southwest Germany inspired him to many pictures, including the painting »View of the Countryside«. As a result of these impressions, combined with a journey to Egypt in 1914, the artist freed himself from the influence of the circle around Wilhelm Leibl in Munich and began to paint en plein air. For this reason, it is above all in his Palatine landscapes that Slevogt is closest to French Impressionism.
Kunsthalle Mannheim
