"Expressionist Erich Heckel: Vineyards and Autumn Poplars in Würzburg"

(1883 Döbeln – 1970 Radolfzell) Vineyard of 1928, the sheet depicts a view of the Franconian landscape near Würzburg. The main part of the image is occupied by a powerful vineyard, divided into rectangular zones in yellow, green, and brown tones. In the foreground, a road or a narrow riverbed, bordered by walls, leads the vineyard in the form of a tense wedge, with a building and tall autumn poplars in the near background. The Expressionist Erich Heckel, after the First World War, traveled from Berlin not only to the Baltic Sea, but also spent several weeks in 1927 and 1928 in Würzburg. Here, Heckel stayed with his wife Siddi as guests of the artist Gertraud Rostoski, who had founded an artists’ colony in 1920 on the former estate “Neue Welt” in Würzburg. Heckel created a significant series of views of the city of Würzburg with the imposing Marienberg Fortress and its surroundings, both in watercolor and painting. Watercolor and colored crayons on paper. Signed and dated (19)28. Dimensions 51.7 x 61.5 cm. Framed. The watercolor is documented in the Erich Heckel estate archive in Hemmenhofen by Hans Geisler and Renate Ebner.