BRACHT, EUGEN1842 Morges - 1921 Darmstadt


Title: The Isola di Bergeggi.
Date: Ca. 1921.
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Measurement: 98 x 160.5cm.
Notation: Signed lower left (subsequently?): "Eugen Bracht".
Frame: Framed.
Verso handwritten illegible notes on the stretcher as well as several estate stamps of Eugen Bracht on the canvas and stretcher.

Literature:
M. Großkinsky: Eugen Bracht (1842-1921), Darmstadt 1992, p. 256.

Provenance:
Private ownership, Italy.

We are grateful to Martin Großkinsky, Karlsruhe, who confirmed the authenticity of the work on the basis of a high-resolution digital photograph and suggested the dating.

The small Isola di Bergeggi lies in the Ligurian Sea not far from the coast, off the Riviera di Ponente. Eugen Bracht discovered it as a painterly motif during a study trip in 1892. The artist was repeatedly tempted to paint the lonely rock formation surrounded by sea and sky and to this day seven versions are known under the titles 'Island in the Mediterranean', 'Isola di Bergeggi' or 'The Blue Island'.
The present version can be categorised as a late work by the artist and displays strong Impressionist traits. The extreme horizontal format is further emphasised by the high horizon line. In contrast to earlier versions of this motif, the island barely rises above this horizon line, suggesting an elevated location. In the strong light of the southern sun, the rocks contrast light grey and beige against the dark surface of the water. However, there is hardly any shadow play. The haptics of the surfaces of the rocks and water were important to Eugen Bracht in earlier versions of the motif; here he has almost completely abandoned them in favour of the pure impression of colour.

Eugen Bracht occupies a special position within German landscape painting in the transition from the 19th to the 20th century. As a highly successful academy professor in Berlin and Dresden, he remained loyal to more conservative, naturalistic trends for a long time, with form dominating over colour. At the end of the 1890s, his paintings became increasingly impressionistic. In his late work, Bracht's palette was reduced again and colour became the predominant element. 'The Blue Island' is an example of this development and concentration in the artist's late work. Manfred Großkinsky dates the present work to 1921.