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The little Gardener, 1914

Leopold Museum,
Vienna
Oil on canvas
100.5×100.5×6.5 cm

Artists

  • Bertold Löffler

    (Nieder-Rosenthal [today: district of Liberec] 1874–1960 Vienna)

Currently on display at OG4
Like many artists of Viennese Modernism, the painter, graphic artist and designer Bertold Löffler (1874–1960) left behind a rich and varied oeuvre. Löffler created this oil painting in 1914 using an expressive coloring based on the central color value of green. For his composition, he chose the typical painting format of Viennese Jugendstil – the square. Employing thick black contours and a simplified manner of depiction oriented on folk art, Löffler depicted a small boy in costume with an enormous flower basket, which is almost as tall as the “little gardener” himself. The entire motif is embedded into a hilly landscape. In the background, we see an idyllic castle ruin sitting enthroned on a cliff. Together with the flowers, it is meant to symbolize the transience of all earthly things.

MR, 2021

Object data

Artist/author
  • Bertold Löffler
Title
The little Gardener
Date
1914
Art movement
Art Nouveau
Category
Painting
Material​/technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
100.5×100.5×6.5 cm
Signature
Signed and dated lower right: BERTOLD LÖFFLER 1914
Credit line
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 596
Inventory access
Contributed to the Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung in 1994
Keywords
transienceman/boyfolk costume/regional costumebasketlandscape with ruinsmeadow/pasturehatcarrying somethingtreeflowerslow hill countryrocksclouds

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Provenance

Provenance research
Leopold Museum i
Dr. Rudolf Leopold, Wien (vor 1994);
Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, Wien (seit 1994)

For provenance related information, please contact us.

Search in collection

transienceman/boyfolk costume/regional costumebasketlandscape with ruinsmeadow/pasturehatcarrying somethingtreeflowerslow hill countryrocksclouds