Lot 3234 - A217 Art Impressionniste & Moderne - vendredi, 26. juin 2026, 16h30
MARIANNE VON WEREFKIN
(Tula 1860–1938 Ascona)
Landscape. 1917–19.
Tempera on paper on cardboard.
Signed and indistinctly dated lower right: M. Werefkin / 1919.
55.5 × 73 cm.
Provenance:
- Auction Galerie Koller, Zurich, 21 November 1987, lot 5142.
- Private property Switzerland, acquired at the above auction.
Rich in color and full of dynamism, "Tessiner Landschaft" presents itself as a striking example of Marianne von Werefkin’s early years in Ascona. From 1918 onward, Werefkin and Alexej von Jawlensky settled in this Ticinese community near Monte Verità. The turbulent events of the preceding years—while the First World War raged in neighboring countries and the relationship between the two artists became increasingly strained—left their mark, which is also reflected in Werefkin’s art. At the same time, the artist found a new home in Ascona, becoming part of the town’s intellectual and artistic network and actively engaging in its communal life: "Ascona teaches me to despise nothing human, to love equally the immeasurable happiness of creativity and the misery of material existence, and to carry both within me like a treasure of the soul." (Marianne von Werefkin, quoted in: Ascona-Locarno Tourism, Lebensmenschen. Jawlensky, Werefkin und Ascona).
It is Werefkin’s particular gift to translate this tension into her pictorial worlds, creating landscapes that are at once beautiful and unsettling—captivating, moving, and profoundly evocative. Here, too, Werefkin transports the viewer into such a scene: the view descends from a hillside across vineyards into the vast landscape of Lake Maggiore. In the background rise simplified पर्वains whose peaks are still partially covered with snow. The tranquil lake contrasts with the shimmering sky, which moves in expressive strokes from right to left across the entire width of the composition. This is not a topographical description of the surroundings, but rather a reflection of the artist’s inner state.
Characteristic of Werefkin’s style is also the sense of depth created by the lines of the vineyard rows in the foreground, which draw the viewer’s gaze almost magnetically toward the center of the composition. The landscape is not embellished with houses or trees. Only the small group of figures in the lower left corner—a pair of parents with a young child—suggests human presence.
It is Werefkin’s particular gift to translate this tension into her pictorial worlds, creating landscapes that are at once beautiful and unsettling—captivating, moving, and profoundly evocative. Here, too, Werefkin transports the viewer into such a scene: the view descends from a hillside across vineyards into the vast landscape of Lake Maggiore. In the background rise simplified पर्वains whose peaks are still partially covered with snow. The tranquil lake contrasts with the shimmering sky, which moves in expressive strokes from right to left across the entire width of the composition. This is not a topographical description of the surroundings, but rather a reflection of the artist’s inner state.
Characteristic of Werefkin’s style is also the sense of depth created by the lines of the vineyard rows in the foreground, which draw the viewer’s gaze almost magnetically toward the center of the composition. The landscape is not embellished with houses or trees. Only the small group of figures in the lower left corner—a pair of parents with a young child—suggests human presence.
CHF 80 000 / 120 000 | (€ 82 470 / 123 710)
Vendu pour CHF 200 000 (frais inclus)