Bay near Naples, c. 1904

In the oil sketch Coast in Dalmatia, Marie Egner (1850–1940) captures, mostly in a smooth painting style, a scenic sea view overshadowed by a brewing storm. She is concerned with the effect of an overall blue-brown tone, but her artistic emphasis is on mood of light and atmosphere. The artist directs the viewer’s gaze along the bay line, defined in the left foreground by a footpath lined with walls and by coastal mountains farther away, all the way up to a cloud-covered sky. Sunlight breaks through behind the high cliff, creating fascinating reflections in the sky and on the horizon as well as reflexes on the surface of the sea. Throughout her life, the pupil of atmospheric impressionist Emil Jakob Schindler (1842–1892), who traveled throughout Europe, was an enthusiastic plein-air painter, which for her was associated with a poetic view of nature.

AGW, 2021