Garten in Soest (1906)

Christian Rohlfs prints bring together more than six decades of German painting, from quiet Weimar country roads to the blazing flowers of his last years in Switzerland. Rohlfs started as a realist, found his own bold Expressionist voice in his sixties, and kept painting into his late eighties. Our collection of 176 art prints covers his landscapes, flower still lifes, dancers, figures and views of Lago Maggiore.

About Christian Rohlfs

Christian Rohlfs was born in 1849 in Groß Niendorf in Holstein, in northern Germany, into a farming family. He took up drawing as a teenager while recovering from a leg injury. The infection that followed later cost him the leg. In 1870 he went to the art school in Weimar, where he trained as a figure painter before turning to landscapes.

For about thirty years Rohlfs worked in and around Weimar. He moved from realism to open-air painting and, after he first saw Monet's work in 1890, toward Impressionism. In 1901 the collector Karl Ernst Osthaus invited him to Hagen, where he became the first artist with a studio at the new Folkwang Museum. There he saw paintings by van Gogh, Gauguin and Matisse, and they changed his course.

In Soest in 1906 he met Emil Nolde, and the two became lifelong friends. After a Brücke exhibition in 1908 he began making woodcuts and linocuts. In Munich between 1910 and 1912 he settled on the bold, personal style he is known for today. He married Helene Vogt in 1919, and Hagen opened a Christian Rohlfs Museum in 1929.

From 1927 Rohlfs spent most of each year in Ascona, on Lago Maggiore in Switzerland, where the southern light gave his late work new energy. In 1937 the Nazis labeled his art "degenerate," removed hundreds of his works from German museums and pushed him out of the Prussian Academy of Arts. He died in Hagen in 1938.

Style and Subjects

Rohlfs is often counted among the first German Expressionists, though he came to the style late and on his own terms. In his mature work, colour leads. Mountains, church towers and trees break into broad, angular patches of blue, red and gold, and the outlines stay loose. In the 1920s he moved away from oil on canvas and painted mostly in water-based tempera on paper. This gives his late pictures a soft, almost glowing surface.

Look for a few recurring subjects: the old churches and houses of Soest, forests and Weimar country roads, dancers and figure studies, and above all flowers. Sunflowers, magnolias, poppies, amaryllis and roses fill his last years, together with Ticino villages and views across Lago Maggiore.

Famous Works

• The Road to Gelmeroda (1893), Nationalgalerie, Berlin. A country road from his long Weimar years, before he turned to Expressionism.
• Beeches in Autumn (1910), Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf. An autumn forest from 1910, the year his move to Munich began a bolder phase.
• Abstraction (The Blue Mountain) (1912), Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf. A mountain broken into wedges of colour that merge with the sky, one of his most daring early Expressionist canvases.
• Collegiate Church of St. Patroclus in Soest (1912), Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg. One of the medieval churches of Soest, a subject he returned to again and again.
• The Temptation of Christ (1914), Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg. One of the religious paintings from the war years that made his name more widely known.
• The Return of the Prodigal Son (1914), Museum Folkwang, Essen. Another biblical scene from the same wartime years.
• Red Roofs under Trees, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe. Red village rooftops set among trees.

Decorating with Rohlfs Prints

His late flower paintings are the easiest place to start. Sunflowers, magnolias, red poppies and roses in warm yellows and reds suit a kitchen, dining room or sunny hallway. The Lago Maggiore and Ticino views, with their soft blues and stone-coloured houses, bring a calm, holiday feel to a bedroom or reading corner.

For a living room or study, the bolder Expressionist pieces such as Abstraction (The Blue Mountain) make a strong single statement above a sofa or desk. The earlier Weimar landscapes and forest scenes are quieter and more muted, which suits a hallway gallery wall. His dancers and figure studies look good grouped in pairs or threes.

FAQ

What art movement was Christian Rohlfs part of?

Rohlfs is best known as a German Expressionist and is often counted among the first. He found that voice around 1910 to 1912, after decades of realist and Impressionist painting in Weimar.

What is Christian Rohlfs' most famous painting?

Abstraction (The Blue Mountain) from 1912, now in the Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf, is one of his best-known works. His paintings of the church of St. Patroclus in Soest are also well known.

Where can I see Christian Rohlfs' original paintings?

The Osthaus Museum in Hagen holds the largest collection, about 700 works. Other paintings hang in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, Museum Folkwang in Essen, the Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf and the Nationalgalerie in Berlin.

How can I recognize a painting by Christian Rohlfs?

Look for strong, glowing colour laid down in broad, angular patches, with loose outlines and simplified forms. His later works are often water-based tempera on paper, with a soft, luminous surface, and many are signed with the monogram "CR."

Why was Christian Rohlfs' art called degenerate?

In 1937 the Nazi regime branded modern art as "degenerate." Hundreds of Rohlfs' works were taken from German museums, seventeen of his paintings were shown in the Degenerate Art exhibition, and he was forced out of the Prussian Academy of Arts.

Related Artists

• Emil Nolde: Expressionist painter and lifelong friend, whom Rohlfs met in Soest in 1906
• Edvard Munch: Rohlfs came to know him as his own work moved toward Expressionism
• Vincent van Gogh: seeing van Gogh's paintings in Hagen helped change Rohlfs' direction
• Marianne von Werefkin: Expressionist painter Rohlfs met in Ascona in 1930
• Helmuth Macke: painter Rohlfs met in Ascona in 1930