Bergspitzen II. 1964.
Watercolor over black chalks.
Lower right signed, dated and titled. On machine-made Hahnemühle (with the watermark). 48.7 x 63 cm (19.1 x 24.8 in), the full sheet.
Motif from Upper Engadine near Corviglia. [JS].
• Large-size watercolor in a marvelous free composition, a special example of Heckel's graphic mastery.
• With great poise and a playful easiness, Heckel integrates the paper's blank parts into this winterly composition.
• In 1963, a year before this work was made, Heckel was honored in numerous exhibitions on occasion of his 80th birthday and he made four last oil paintings.
• For the first time on the international auction market (source: artprice.com).

The work is registerd in the archive of the Erich Heckel Estate, Hemmenhofen on Lake Constance. We are grateful to Mrs Renate Ebner for the kind support in cataloging this lot.

PROVENANCE: From the artist's estate.
Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Würzburg (acquired from the above in 1986, with the collector's stamp on the reverse, 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).

LITERATURE: Heinz Spielmann (ed.), Die Maler der Brücke. Sammlung Hermann Gerlinger, Stuttgart 1995, pp. 356f., SHG no. 586 (with illu.).
Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (eds.), Die Maler der Brücke. Inventory catalog Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Halle (Saale) 2005, p. 270, SHG no. 616 (with illu.).

In very good condition. Upper right corner with a tiny brownish spot. Lower right with a faint color trace and a faint diagonal creasemark.