389 - Christian Rohlfs

Christian Rohlfs 1847 Niendorf near Leezen – 1938 Hagen – “Houses in Ascona” – Colored chalks on handmade paper. 38.5 x 28.2 cm. 42 x 53 cm (dimensions including frame). Stamped on the reverse: NACHLASS / CHRISTIAN ROHLFS. Signed above it: Mrs. Christian Rohlfs. Mat. Framed with the entire image visible under glass. Rohlfs is one of the most important representatives of German Expressionism. After a stay in Berlin, Rohlfs enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Weimar in 1870 to study painting. He was awarded the title of professor in 1903. During the summer months, he collaborated with Nolde in Soest. The first signs of Impressionism can be seen in his work as early as 1888. His evolution toward Expressionism was accompanied by a visionary painting style that was largely detached from the subject. Numerous honors attest to the recognition his later works received. Under the Nazis, he was expelled from the Prussian Academy of Arts in 1937, and 412 of his paintings were removed from German museums as “degenerate.”