Picture "Southern French Landscape" (1929)

Towards the end of the 1920s, Erich Heckel undertook numerous journeys that repeatedly took him to France. In the process, he expanded his artistic oeuvre to include pure landscape portraits. Figurative depictions, on the other hand, which characterised his early work, became a secondary matter from then on.

This delicate gouache belongs to his landscape paintings and differs from his Expressionist work. Through the perspective Heckel chose and his unusual point of view, he unites the radiant panorama-like landscape with the lively dynamism of the horse-drawn carriage winding through the serpentines.

Gouache and chalk on handmade paper, 1929. Signed, dated and titled. Motif size/sheet size 56 x 69.6 cm. Size in frame 81 x 93.5 cm as shown.

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About Erich Heckel

Erich Heckel (1883-1970) is one of the most important artists of German Expressionism. In 1905, together with Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and Fritz Bleyl, he founded the legendary artists' group "Die Brücke" in Dresden, which later Max Pechstein, Emil Nolde and Otto Mueller joined.

After World War I Heckel developed a new, cosmopolitan classicism that was accompanied by a more naturalistic approach and a brightening of the palette. In the 1920s, he produced numerous landscape works, including the unusually large charcoal drawing of the 'Westerholz Mill', which is still a popular touristic destination in Schleswig-Holstein.

Erich Heckel's works are represented in the world's leading museums and collections.

A one-of-a-kind or unique piece is a work of art personally created by the artist. It exists only once due to the type of production (oil painting, watercolour, drawing, lost-wax sculpture etc.).

In addition to the classic unique pieces, there are also the so-called "serial unique pieces". They present a series of works with the same colour, motif and technique, manually prepared by the same artist. The serial unique pieces are rooted in "serial art", a genre of modern art that aims to create an aesthetic effect through series, repetitions, and variations of the same objects or themes or a system of constant and variable elements or principles.

The historical starting point is considered to be Claude Monet's "Les Meules" (1890/1891), where, for the first time, a series was created that went beyond a mere group of works. The other artists, who addressed to the serial art, include Claude Monet, Piet Mondrian and above all Gerhard Richter.