Lot 3265 - A213 Impressionist & Modern Art - Friday, 27. June 2025, 04.30 PM
MARIANNE VON WEREFKIN
(Tula 1860–1938 Ascona)
Vor dem Gewitter.
Tempera on paper laid on board.
Monogrammed lower right: MW.
Signed, entitled and numbered verso on the artist's label: Marianne von Werefkin / Vor dem Gewitter / Nr. 8.
Signed, entitled and numbered verso on the artist's label: Marianne von Werefkin / Vor dem Gewitter / Nr. 8.
67.1 × 49.5 cm.
Provenance:
- Private collection, Switzerland.
- With Kunst und Buchantiquariat Saleen Hans Widmer, St. Gallen, 29.11.1991.
- Private collection, Switzerland, acquired at the above auction.
Exhibited:
Marianne von Werefkin lived alone in modest circumstances at Ascona beginning in 1920 and her visual language increasingly harks back to her early Russian work during this time. She depicts scenes of the simple life around her, such as fishermen or a customs officer at the lake, as in this case. But she always remains profoundly distant from the realistic world of her teacher, Ilya Repin. She searches for what lies behind the depicted reality; she hints at it, tells symbolic tales. Or as she once wrote in her diary: "I love the things that don't exist." (quoted in: Chichio Haller exhibition catalog, 1996, foreword, p. 5.) The present work is far removed from a landscape idyll on Lake Maggiore. Her choice of the typical portrait format instead of the format generally used for landscapes is the first indication of this.
Instead of a bright sky, blue water, or the lovely green hills of southern Switzerland, we find dark clouds and greenish-brown water. Areas of the sky and the red, volcano-shaped mountain seem to be literally burning. An ominous atmosphere hovers over everything. This is accentuated by the lack of perspective, which makes the towering hills seem threateningly close. The figure stands rooted to its spot, inert and powerless. Also characteristic of Werefkin is the choice of the title "Before the Storm," which anticipates the threatening event and allows for interpretation and associations.
Werefkin’s masterful touch is unmistakably present throughout the work: the intense and expressive brushwork, along with the skillful arrangement of shapes and areas of color. The painting thus becomes a vivid and powerful parable of the everyday life of a customs officer at the border between Switzerland and Italy.
Instead of a bright sky, blue water, or the lovely green hills of southern Switzerland, we find dark clouds and greenish-brown water. Areas of the sky and the red, volcano-shaped mountain seem to be literally burning. An ominous atmosphere hovers over everything. This is accentuated by the lack of perspective, which makes the towering hills seem threateningly close. The figure stands rooted to its spot, inert and powerless. Also characteristic of Werefkin is the choice of the title "Before the Storm," which anticipates the threatening event and allows for interpretation and associations.
Werefkin’s masterful touch is unmistakably present throughout the work: the intense and expressive brushwork, along with the skillful arrangement of shapes and areas of color. The painting thus becomes a vivid and powerful parable of the everyday life of a customs officer at the border between Switzerland and Italy.
CHF 80 000 / 130 000 | (€ 82 470 / 134 020)
Sold for CHF 125 000 (including buyer’s premium)
All information is subject to change.