Hans Purrmann Lot n° 44

Hans Purrmann Garden of the Villa Romana 1941 Oil on canvas. 57 x 63 cm. Framed. Signed in black lower right 'H. Purrmann' lower right. - In very fine condition with fresh colors. Lenz/Billeter 1941/02 (differing dimensions) Provenance Elisabeth Heintz, Montagnola; since then in family ownership in southern Germany Exhibitions Purrmann House, Speyer (permanent loan 2010 - Feb. 2024) Literature Purrmann-Haus Speyer (ed.), Works by the artist couple Hans Purrmann and Mathilde Vollmoeller-Purrmann, Speyer 2012, p. 54 with illustration p. 37. Like so many avant-garde artists, the painter Hans Purrmann felt the effects of the National Socialist regime early on. He was fortunate enough to be able to leave Germany in 1935 when he took over the honorary management of the "Villa Romana" Foundation of the German Artists' Association and spend the following years in Florence. In the end, Purrmann lived and worked in the Renaissance city for eight formative years, well protected in the magnificent country villa in the Via Senese and surrounded by artist friends such as Gerhard Marcks, Emy Roeder and Rudolf Levy. The period is characterized by confidence and melancholy, by losses and triumphs, but above all by numerous light-filled and colourful paintings. The location of his new residence in the south of Florence on a hill beyond the Porta Romana was outstanding. From his privileged residence, Purrmann repeatedly painted the view of the magnificent cathedral city and the park-like garden. Here, Purrmann's landscapes acquired a hitherto unknown intensity of color and spatial depth. For the magnificent painting "Garden of the Villa Romana" from 1941, he focused on the park's mighty deciduous tree, which is flanked on the left by conifers and on the right by the villa built in 1904/1905. Starting from the bright foreground of the lawn, he built up the composition in differentiated green tones until it is caught in the narrow blue zone of the sky. The landscape is bathed in the radiant light of a summer's day - the leaves, the oleander bush in the front garden and not least the terracotta-colored façade of the villa seem to reflect the sun's rays. In the middle of the Second World War, Purrmann created a peaceful, Mediterranean park landscape with a partly impasto, partly thin application of paint. The painting comes from the estate of Elisabeth Heintz (1911-1966), who was Purrmann's secretary and close confidante for many years during his time in Ticino and to whom he bequeathed a number of works.