(Radkersburg 1850–1940 Maria Anzbach)
A View of Arbe (Rab, Croatia), signed M. Egner (signature slightly retraced), oil on canvas, 70 x 100.5 cm, unframed

Provenance:
Private Collection Austria, since the 1960s.

Exhibited:
Ladies First! Künstlerinnen in und aus der Steiermark 1850–1950, Neue Galerie Graz, 25 September 2020 – 21 February 2021.

Compare:
Martin Suppan, Rupert Feuchtmüller, Marie Egner. Eine österreichische Stimmungsimpressionistin, Blumen. Landschaften, Vienna 1993, vol. II, p. 310, no. 247.

Over the course of her artistic career, the painter of still lifes and landscapes Marie Egner undertook numerous journeys in which she practised plein air painting. She recorded the different impressions she gained of these journeys and trips in her diaries, along with the months and years in which she undertook them. In September and October 1890, she travelled to the island of Arbe (Rab) in the Kvarner Bay in Croatia, via Volosko and Abbazia (Opatija). Another trip to this location followed a few years later, in October 1911. In the present lot, she captures the warm, late-summer atmosphere that she must have enjoyed on one of these trips. On the left there is a steep slope that angles down to the coast, on which three goats wander among aloe vera plants, looking for the last green grasses left. The calm sea conveys an idyllic atmosphere to the viewer, inviting one to linger. The motif seems to be inspired by everyday life and reflects the beauty of this part of the Adriatic coast.