Die Blumenterrasse im Wannseegarten nach Süden

In 1910, Liebermann acquired some land by the Wannsee near Berlin, and the following year had a summerhouse and studio erected, built with finances Liebermann proudly claimed he had 'painted' in just two years. Closely modelled on a villa in Hamburg and inspired by Dutch patrician country houses, the house became a summer retreat for the artist as he entered his final creative phase. Moreover, with its spacious, landscaped grounds, designed with the help of his friend, Alfred Lichtwark, which extended all the way to the lakeside, the site proved a fertile source of artistic inspiration from 1910 onwards. Indeed, such was Liebermann's affinity with the villa's gardens that he came to call them his Freilichtatelier.

Painted in 1916, Die Blumenterrasse im Wannseegarten nach Süden is a powerful example of the richly expressive brushwork and vigorous painterly manner that characterises Liebermann's mature output. Liebermann reduces the landscape of Die Blumenterrasse im Wannseegarten nach Süden to a series of flat planes of colour in which Liebermann gives free rein to his superb compositional capabilities. In the Wannseegarten paintings, the subject matter often becomes secondary to Liebermann's explorations of light and texture; the thickly impasted surface of the present work, particularly in the flowerbeds, displays Liebermann's masterful handling of his paint surface. An artist at the height of his powers, Liebermann's style is fresh and vivacious, the brushstrokes loose and expressive.