Boy at the Spring (The Spring), 1923

Man and nature as a unity – this is how the painter Albin Egger-Lienz (1868–1926) formulated the figure in his painting Boy at the Spring. Rendered with short, broad brushstrokes, the shepherd boy is lying on the ocher and brownish earth, supporting himself on strong, bent arms, drinking from a water hole. Egger-Lienz would execute the same motif several times with small differences. Here, the artist developed the body and ground with equally dynamic brushstrokes. Contrasts between light and dark, contours and distinct colors allow the figure to grow from the clayey soil. The light blue area in the background was modulated in a more restrained manner. Egger-Lienz brought tension into this well-structured composition with the diagonal placement of the body sprawled out into the image plane, which we see from a top view. A heel protruding over the high, arched horizon suggests spatiality. The three-dimensional, cohesive forms create an impression of timelessness, universality and monumentality.

MH, 2021