View across Lake Staffel
  • Gabriele Münter
  • Berlin 1877 - 1962 Murnau
  • View across Lake Staffel, ca. 1925
  • Watercolour on paper framing lines with pencil,
  • entitled by the artist lower left: Staffelsee
    monogram with brush in blue lower right: (interlaced),
    estate stamp on the verso,
    signed with pencil on the old mount: Münter-Kandinsky
  • 171 × 227 mm
Provenance:
Gabriele Münter- and Johannes Eichner-Foundation, Munich
Exhibition:
Gabriele Münter malt Murnau , Schloßmuseum, Murnau 1996,
August-Macke-House, Bonn 1996/97, exhib.-cat. p. 112/113 (ill.)

Lake Staffel, with a surface of only six square kilometres, lies nestled inthe picturesque Alpine foothills only a few minutes by foot from the centre of Murnau.

Several tree-covered islands and headlands, along with stretches of shore left in their natural state, heighten the charm of this idyllic landscape, which proved irresistible to Gabriele Münter. The motif of the water’s reflective surface in front of the impressive mountain range inspired her over the decades to create numerous watercolours as well as oil paintings.

In these, the entire range of her expressive palette reproduced Münter’s impressions of the constantly shifting colours and luminous effects at different times of day and year.