Modersohn – Spring in the Moor / At the Ostendorfer Ship Canal

Otto Modersohn
(1865 Soest–1943 Rotenburg)

SPRING IN THE MOOR / AT THE OSTENDORFER SCHIFFGRABEN

Painted in 1906
Oil on canvas, 80 x 64 cm
Signed and dated lower right: Otto Modersohn 1906, titled Spring in the Moor on the reverse of the stretcher

Provenance: Dr. Südel Collection, Bremen; Commeter Gallery, Hamburg; private collection, Leipzig; Villa Grisebach, Berlin (1992); Klauspeter Westenhoff Gallery, Hamburg; private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia; Van Ham, Cologne (2024); private collection, East Germany

Literature: Artist’s studio book from 1906, titled there: Ship Grave (Ostendorf)

Expertise by Rainer Noeres, Otto Modersohn Museum, Fischerhude, 20 September 2024

Spring in the Moor is a painting from Modersohn’s Worpswede period (1889–1907), his most important and significant creative phase, which fetches the highest prices on the art market. When Modersohn painted it in 1906, he was already a successful and sought-after artist, yet he continually re-evaluated his art, inspired and fuelled not least by Paula Modersohn-Becker, who was both his admirer and his strongest critic. In 1906, she travelled to Paris, as she had done many times before, but this time with the intention of leaving him. Otto began to fight for her and, as we know, was ultimately successful. It is interesting to note that during their separation, the dialogue between the spouses never ceased, even on matters of art. In April, he regained his composure, returned to work (letter of 23 April 1906, p. 349) and painted, among other things, the present painting. It can be assumed that he wants to give his best and paint a major work (the size alone speaks for this) – a work that contains everything he discussed so often and so intensively with Paula in Worpswede and Paris. And he succeeds. ‘Spring in the Moor’ is not an avant-garde French painting, but a magnificent, modern Modersohn that significantly captures the tranquil beauty of the Worpswede spring landscape.