Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art

About this Work

Before World War I, Russian painter Alexei von Jawlensky exhibited in Munich with the Expressionist Blaue Reiter group, which was founded by Wassily Kandinsky. Drawing upon their upbringing in the Russian Orthodox church, Jawlensky and Kandinsky both explored the spiritual power of art and the symbolic meanings of color. The color blue had a special significance to both artists, who considered it a spiritual and noble hue. Here, a rich Prussian blue frames the head of Jawlensky’s Old Man, while providing a vivid contrast to the bright colors of his face. Although it evokes a Russian icon, this portrait, painted in the Bavarian village of Oberstdorf, depicts a local gardener.