In the moor, red chalk pencil and chalk on brownish paper, 17 cm x 23.5 cm inner passepartout dimensions, monogrammed.
Otto Modersohn was born in Soest on 22 February 1865 and was one of the most famous German landscape painters. After studying at the art academies in Düsseldorf and Karlsruhe from 1884 to 1888, he founded the Worpswede artists' colony in 1889 together with Fritz Mackensen and Hans am Ende. The three painters settled in the small Lower Saxon town of Worpswede in 1893 because of their fascination with the artistic possibilities of open-air painting in the still rugged undeveloped landscape. For Modersohn, the most important source of inspiration and retreat was nature, to which he was constantly drawn. Other artists soon followed, including the painter Heinrich Vogeler, whose residence Barkenhoff became one of the most important meeting places of the movement, along with the Café Worpswede, but also Otto Modersohn's later wife Paula Becker. Although the paintings of the Worpswede group first met with rejection from the press, they were soon celebrated for their innovative, nature-oriented compositions. Modersohn left the artists' colony in 1899. In his letter of explanation for leaving, he stressed the importance of the personal, individual freedom of each artist, but at the same time he acknowledged the great merits of the association. However, he remained faithful to open-air painting until a detached retina in 1936 forced him to paint only in the studio.
