Christian Modersohn

About the work

In the 1960s, Christian Modersohn painted several large-format water-colours in the early light of the breaking day. Structured on complementary green and red hues and executed with great assurance, this charming work depicts the open view onto the vast north German landscape.
Fashioned in the immediate vicinity of his house, the water-colour shows the still tree-flanked northern arm of the River Wümme, facing out to the east.
With the horizon still veiled by the early morning mist, this serene river landscape is vaulted by the reflection of the red light of dawn. Today this stretch of countryside looks very different. The course of the river is now barely recognisable behind thick clusters of trees, making this water- colour a veritable chronicle of a landscape in change.
As ever more swathes of pasture land became abandoned amidst growing environmental awareness, the meadows of the Wümme around Fischerhude were transformed into wetlands, populated with trees along the banks of the river and declared a nature reserve.
(Rainer Noeres)