Erwin Carl Wilhelm Günther (1864 - 1927), Steamboats And Sailboats On The

Erwin Carl Wilhelm Günther (Hamburg, 1864 - Düsseldorf, 1927)

Steamboats and sailboats on the sea

Oil on canvas, cm 65 x 100

Signed and dated "(19)15" in the bottom left

The painting is signed and dated "Günther Erwin (19)15" in the lower left.

The artist was born in Hamburg in 1864, and then studied at the Düsseldorf Academy. Long trips to Europe and Africa provided him with subjects for his paintings, which he began to exhibit from 1891 in Munich and from 1893 in Berlin. His work is almost entirely devoted to the representation of marine, which are the subject for which he is most known. Among the museums that preserve his paintings, we remember the Kunsthalle in Düsseldorf, his adopted city. The painting in question is an example of his most typical production. It shows two boats in the foreground and a steamer in the background, while on the right is a pier with its typical structures. All three of these boats, the first of which bears the inscription "Marie Stern", leave the shore in the direction of the open sea. Looking at the steamer in the distance, you have the perception that it is floating, as if propelled by the high waves rippling the surface of the sea. The day is windy, as not only the waves testify, but also the movement of boats that seem to travel their way with some effort.

The palette employed by Günther is rather essential, so much so that the painting seems to be almost a monochrome. The greys, in fact, although in different shades and combinations, are the protagonists of the palette, used in boats, in the pier, in the long smoke of the steamer and in the same waves.