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1844 Vienna – 1926 Grafenegg/Lower Austria
- Title
- „April“
- Time
- 1890
- signed
- lower left: "O. Wisinger-Florian"
- Technique
- oil on wood
- Measurements
- 41¼×31¾ in
exhibited during a retrospective in Vienna Leopold Museum in 2019
At the beginning of the 1880s – the period in which she developed her characteristic close-up “flower landscapes” – Olga Wisinger-Florian was already thinking about a floral depiction of the course of the year. On April 16, 1890, the famous representative of Mood Impressionism and one of the most important female painters in Austrian history finally wrote in her diary: “I have decided to paint the year now”.
This masterful work “April” from 1890 is a panel painting from Wisinger-Florian’s original cycle of monthly pictures on panel (there is a second, later series on canvas), one of the painter’s prinicipal works, to which she devoted two years of her artistic career. The composition with lush lilac and chestnut blossoms against a wonderfully radiant light blue spring sky is artfully staged using light and shadow.
The complete cycle was only recently reconstructed. It consists of a total of 11 oil paintings on panel, with June and July united in one picture. After completing the cycle, Wisinger-Florian presented the paintings at the Vienna Künstlerhaus in 1893 and soon afterwards also in Munich, Berlin and at the 1894 World’s Fair in Antwerp.
It is a particular pleasure for us to present this museum-quality painting to you, an essential work of Austrian Mood Impressionism, which was exhibited at the Leopold Museum in 2019 as part of a celebrated retrospective of the painter.