Murnau – View from the Window of the Griesbräu (Murnau – Blick aus dem Fenster des Griesbräu)

1908

Oil on cardboard, 49.8 × 70 cm. Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau München, Munich

A town's main street, painted from the inn where the artist lodged. The museum counts it among the first pictures he made in Murnau.

Made in summer 1908, when three painter friends shared the inn with him.
Look at the street: it curves away in strokes of violet and pink, with green fields and blue hills beyond.
Long, sweeping brushstrokes still keep a trace of the Jugendstil line.
The museum sees this summer as the moment three of the four found a freer, more expressive way of painting. Here forms flatten and colors clash in strong contrasts.
He had passed through the town on a cycling trip in 1904. The painting reached the museum through Münter's gift.