Hans Thoma

HANS THOMA (Germany, 1839 - 1924).
"Landscape with two ladies". 1898.
Oil and tempera on hardboard.
Signed and dated in the lower margin.
Measurements: 80 x 100 cm; 97 x 119 cm (frame).

Hans Thoma, attentive to the almost mystical placidity of the German southern nature, erects in this canvas a hymn to the contemplative look. The composition extends like a wide panoramic frieze: in the foreground, two women, presented with their backs turned, sit on the grass, so that the viewer adopts their point of view. Their hats adorned with feathers and ribbons, together with their puffed blouses and skirts in bright shades, introduce a vibrant chromatic counterpoint against the wide range of greens that dominates the scene. This green, ranging from dark lichen to translucent jade, seems to radiate towards the surface of the lake, where the shades dissolve into pearly reflections and slight undulations.

Thoma, a spiritual heir to both late-Romantic naturalism and symbolist sensibility, attenuates the horizon line with an outline that fades into an atmospheric density. In the distance, the silhouette of a village is visible. The sky, crowned by cottony clouds, accentuates the illusion of depth through gradations of blue, faithful to the poetics of the pale evenings that captivated the landscape painters of the Danube and the Rhine. The brushstroke, with its fine and meticulous weft, avoids the vehement impressionist gesture; it pursues, instead, the diaphanousness and accuracy of the plant textures. Each trunk, each blade of grass, is inscribed with almost calligraphic devotion, reminding us of the artist's academic training and his admiration for primitive German painting.

Hans Thoma was born in Bernau, Grand Duchy of Baden, in the Black Forest. He was the son of a miller and was trained in the basics of painting by a painter of clock dials. He studied at the Karlsruhe Academy from 1859 to 1866, where he studied with Johann Wilhelm Schirmer and Ludwig des Coudres, the latter having a great influence on his career. Thoma also studied with Hans Gude, but rebelled against Gude's realism. During this period he spent summers near his hometown, Bernau, sketching and painting landscapes and portraits of family members. In 1866 he entered the prestigious Akademie in Düsseldorf, where he became acquainted with French modern art. Two years later he traveled to Paris, where he met Courbet. In 1870 he moved to Munich, where he shared a studio with Wilhelm Trübner. His style was gradually influenced by the German symbolist painters Arnold Böcklin and Hans von Marées. From 1876 to 1899 Thoma lived in Frankfurt am Main, where he came into contact with avant-garde artistic circles, and gradually achieved artistic success. In 1899 he returned to Karlsruhe as director of the Kunsthalle. The following year a group of his paintings was exhibited in Munich, which consolidated his reputation, and from then on he exhibited regularly throughout Germany. In 1909 the Hans-Thoma Museum was opened in the Kunsthalle in Karlsruhe.

A decade after the artist's death, the Nazi regime appropriated the painter's legacy, acquiring it for the Führermuseum as "genuine German art". The case of Hans Thoma illustrates how the Nazi power instrumentalized a pre-existing artistic legacy to provide itself with a cultural pantheon to suit its own needs.