Max Liebermann, The kitchen garden in Wannsee, towards the West, with a gardener on the path (Wannsee Garden)
1924, Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm, indicated at the bottom-right corner: M Liebermann
Inv. no. L/318, acquired in 1924
The garden surrounding the country house in Wannsee built in 1910 – the so-called ‘little Versailles’ of Liebermann – grew out through intense discussions with Alfred Lichtwark, director of the Hamburger Kunsthalle and the painter’s patron as well. Inspired by French artists, who had discovered their own garden as a motif and painted it in impressionistic artworks bathed in light, Liebermann also became enthusiastic about garden paintings. Early on he had acquired paintings by Monet and Manet, among them garden motifs, too. During his last 20 years Liebermann painted more than 200 impressionistic depictions of gardens.