7217 - Metzkes, Harald

Metzkes, Harald Self-Portrait in the Studio Oil on canvas. 1977. 60 x 50 cm. Signed "Metzkes" in blue with a paintbrush and dated in the upper left corner. An iconic artist’s self-portrait, created in Metzkes’ East Berlin studio with a view of the water tower in Prenzlauer Berg. This very view shines brightly at the center of the spatially interlocking composition. The studio space unfolds around the window in delicately nuanced, dark, and warm, earthy tones and straight forms, whose contours—like the brushstrokes—appear soft, lending the depiction an almost hazy quality. The backlighting casts the slender figure of the artist—wearing his characteristic flat cap and holding a sketchpad—as a silhouette. Metzkes had already moved into his studio apartment on Kollwitzplatz in 1960. In 1976–77, Harald Metzkes said the following about his painting: “In its creation, the painting incorporates influences from all the periods the painter has experienced and, beyond that, from everything he has relived. The task of painting a picture lies in organizing these countless impulses through color and form.” (quoted from harald-metzkes.de, accessed August 25, 2026). Provenance: Private collection, Berlin - Please request condition reports for the lots, as the condition is usually not listed in the catalog. - Please ask for condition reports for individual lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalog.