Zwei Clowns. 1936.
Watercolor and gouache.
Signed, dated and titled in lower right. On wove paper. 69.5 x 55 cm (27.3 x 21.6 in), the full sheet. [CH].

• Elaborate, painterly watercolor of particular expressiveness.
• The world of vaudeville, theater and circus was one of the main motifs of the "Brücke" artists and had a lasting influence on Heckel's artistic oeuvre up to his late work.
• Heckel placed the cheerful fairground events in the background of the scene in muted colors and put focus on the thoughtful, serious, almost challenging gazes of the two artists.
• The following year, almost 800 works by the artist were confiscated from German museums as part of the "Degenerate Art" campaign.
• Heckel would not devote himself again to this subject, which he held in such high esteem throughout his life, until after 1945.

PROVENANCE: Erich Heckel Estate, Hemmenhofen.
Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Würzburg (acquired from the above in 2000, with the collector's stamp, Lugt 6032)).

EXHIBITION: Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 1995-2001).
Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle an der Saale (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2001-2017).
Buchheim Museum, Bernried (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2017-2022)
Erich Heckel, Einfühlung und Ausdruck, Buchheim Museum, Bernried, October 31, 2020 - March 7, 2021, extended until June 20, 2021 (color illu. on p. 342).

LITERATURE: Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (eds.), Die Maler der Brücke. Inventory catalog Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Halle (Saale) 2005, p. 244, SHG no. 545 (illu.).

Beautifully colored watercolor in good condition. Two tiny pinholes in the two upper corners of the sheet, as well as with isolated, faint handling marks.