The Red House

Max PechsteinWW-1911-132975

1911·Oil on canvas·88.9 × 68.5 cm (35 × 27 in.)

<p>Max Pechstein painted <em>The Red House</em> during a trip to the town of Nidden, a remote fishing village on the Baltic Sea where he often escaped the constraints of Berlin life. This particular work formed part of a series of red houses and other architectural structures–such as bathhouses and a cathedral–that reflects a documentary impulse to record outdoor scenes from multiple perspectives under various conditions. However, Pechstein also ventured beyond strict observation and had a desire to, as he put it, "dive into colors, roll around in tones!" As is clear from the rough brushwork and saturated palette, this radical experimentation–carried out as part of the avant-garde artists' group Die Brücke (the Bridge)–forged new connections between traditional painting and the intensity of 20th-century experience.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1911
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 88.9 × 68.5 cm (35 × 27 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Max Pechstein

Artist

Max Pechstein

Painting

German Expressionist Max Pechstein was a quintessential artist of the Die Brücke group in the years leading up to World War I. His use of bold color and expressive form contributed to the development of expressionism, and he led The New Secession movement alongside George Tappert in 1910. A crucial member of the avant-garde, he consistently experimented with line, form and acidic color that was liberated from mimetic representation in his landscapes and figurative paintings.

Palau

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