Description

Depicting the rolling terrain near Murnau, Der blaue See (The Blue Lake) shows a slightly elevated view onto Lake Staffel, a frequent subject of the artist from the 1910s into the 1950s. Among Münter’s early depictions of this subject, this particular composition features saturated colors and boldly styled contour lines typical of this pivotal moment in Münter’s early development. “After a short period of agony,” she described, “I made a big leap [in Murnau], from copying nature—more or less impressionistically—to feeling its content, to abstracting, to presenting a distillation.”

Provenance

The artist, Murnau; consigned to Kunstsalon Emil Richter, Dresden, before 1930, and returned to the artist [verso label and inscription, statement from Jörg Paal, Galerie Thomas, May 5, 2021, copy in curatorial object file]; Galerie Wilhelm Grosshennig, Düsseldorf, before 1962 [according to statement from Jörg Paal cited above]; sold to Wilhelm Reinold (died 1979), Hamburg, c. Jan. 1964 [according to correspondence from Ralph Melcher, Galerie Thomas, Sept. 28, 2021; copy in curatorial object file]; by descent within the family; sold through Galerie Thomas, Munich, to Dale Taylor and Angela Lustig, Chicago, 2021; promised as a gift to the Art Institute of Chicago, Nov. 9, 2021.