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1900 Berlin – 1986 Salzburg
- Title
- „Burghausen on the Salzach“
- Time
- 1933
- signed
- lower right: "A. Birkle"
- Technique
- oil on cardboard
- Measurements
- 19½×27¼ in
Albert Birkle was born in 1900 in Berlin-Charlottenburg as the son of the painter Carl Birkle and grandson of the court painter Gustav Bregenzer. From 1918 to 1924, Albert Birkle studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin. In 1923 he became the youngest member of the Berlin Secession and in 1924 he was admitted to the Prussian Academy of Arts.
Birkle developed an independent style – a religious, socially critical realism influenced by Expressionism and New Objectivity. Around 1930, the focus shifted to atmospheric landscapes. This wintry view of the southern German town of Burghausen has a surreal, fantastical effect – typical of Birkle’s landscapes – with atmospheric fields of snow, trees swaying like seaweed and a slightly distorted landscape. The two walkers in the foreground are on the banks of the Salzach on the Salzburg side, looking across to Burghausen’s old town with the parish church of St. Jakob. The castle complex towering above was once the residence of the Bavarian dukes and, at more than one kilometer, is the longest castle complex in the world.
The year before this painting was created, Birkle had moved to Salzburg with his family, where he had a house and studio built above the city on the slopes of the Gaisberg. During the Second World War, his art was classified as degenerate. He received Austrian citizenship in 1946 and was awarded the title of professor in 1953. Birkle lived and worked as an established artist in his adopted home of Salzburg until his death in 1986.