Koller View 2/20

11 Marc Chagall (1887‒1985). La veste rouge (The red jacket). 1961. Oil, gouache and ink on paper. 66 × 50.5 cm. Estimate: CHF 300 000/450 000 Marc Chagall painted "La veste rouge" during the years when he was working on several commissions for monumental ec- clesiastical stained-glass windows. Mystical hybrid beings, like the one shown here with a yellow goat's head on a human body, populate almost the entire oeuvre of the Russian artist. The use of strong colours is deliberate: "I wanted to make colour the mediator between the psychological and spiritual elements", the artist wrote in 1979. It is interesting that shortly before his death, Chagall portrayed himself in the very same red jacket shown here. Many other details of the picture are also symboli- cally charged, such as the tall-case clock in the background and the flowers omnipresent in Chagall's late work. Max Liebermann (1847‒1935). Garden with potted palm and two figures. 1908. Oil on canvas. 53 × 64 cm. Estimate: CHF 300 000/500 000 Max Liebermann was the epitome of a German Impressionist. One of his typical garden subjects is featured in the 3 July auction. The painting antici- pates the idyllic atmosphere of the garden he created when hemoved into his country house in Wannsee two years later. The garden as a place of yearning is thus manifested in Liebermann's art long before he was able to create one for himself in reality. Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841‒1919). Dans le jardin des Collettes à Cagnes (In the Collettes’ gar- den in Cagnes). Circa 1910. Oil on canvas. 30.5 × 42.5 cm. Estimate: CHF 150 000/250 000 In landscape depictions like this one, Renoir is entirely concerned with the reproduction of the impression of nature, including the impression of light, colour and atmosphere, which he cap- tures with rapid brushstrokes in a virtuoso manner. Together with Claude Monet, he developed his own painting style: The colours are applied with short, contrasting strokes and airiness to ex- press the spontaneity of the moment and the shifting effects of light and shadow. Cuno Amiet (1868‒1961). Portrait of Susanna Michel-Mühlemann. 1903. Tempera on canvas. 73.5 × 52 cm. Estimate: CHF 90 000/150 000 In 1892, after his training inMunich and Paris, Amiet spent a year in Pont-Aven, where he discovered the works of Gau- guin and van Gogh. It was during this time that the artist developed the foundations of his use of colour. Amiet's choice of pure colours met with little understanding in his home country, however. Before he joined the "Brücke" group of artists, he studied Art Nouveau under the influ- ence of his companion Ferdinand Hodler. The present por- trait dates from this creative phase. © 2020, ProLitteris, Zurich