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Date: 1881-1955

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Dimensions: 80.5 by 70cm.

31 5/8 by 27 1/2 in.

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Provenance: PROPERTY FROM A GERMAN COLLECTION

Hannah Bekker vom Rath, Frankfurt am Main (sale: Lempertz, Cologne, 3rd December 1960, lot 381)
Sale: Kunstkabinett Hanna Bekker vom Rath, Frankfurt am Main, 1963, lot 172
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

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Exhibited: Selm, Schloss Cappenberg, Max Pechstein, 1989, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Reutlingen, Städtisches Museum Spendhaus and Zwickau, Städtisches Museum, Max Pechstein: Das ferne Paradies, 1995-96, no. 10, illustrated in colour in the catalogue and on the cover/frontispiece
Berlin, Brücke Museum; Tübingen, Kunsthalle and Kiel, Kunsthalle, Max Pechstein. Das malerische Werk, 1996-97, no. 98, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Krems, Kunsthalle, Sehnsucht nach dem Paradies. Von Gauguin bis Nolde, 2004, no. 79, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

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Literature: Georg Biermann, 'Max Pechstein', in Junge Kunst, vol. I, Leipzig, 1920, illustrated p. 37

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Notes: Like his fellow German Expressionist painters as well as their French counterparts, Pechstein sought to flee the frenzy of city life, and immerse himself in a more peaceful, 'primitive' environment where he could paint en plein air. Having spent several summers in the small fishing village of Nidden on the Baltic coast, in 1914 his search for wilderness took him to the Palau Islands in the South Pacific. Although he only remained there for several months, his stay in this remote part of the world provided Pechstein with an endless source of inspiration. Soon after the outbreak of World War One and the Japanese invasion of the islands, the artist had to return to Germany under adventurous circumstances. Due to a forced break in his artistic production in wartime conditions, it was not until 1917, when the present work was executed, that Pechstein could finally devote his time fully to his art. It was during this time that he executed a large number of paintings, drawings and watercolours based on his sketches, as well as memories, from the South Seas. As evident in Palaulandschaft I, Pechstein experienced life in a world which he romantically idealised as an 'earthly Paradise', without the restraints of Western conventions.