Julius Sergius von Klever (1850-1924), Julius Sergius von Klever (1850-1924) Forest in winter at sunset

Oil on canvas, 122.5 × 96.5cm

Julius Sergius von Klever was born in Dorpat (Tartu) in what is now Estonia. Konstantin von Kügelgen, whose father and uncle had been court painters to the tsars, gave him access to art and especially to works by Caspar David Friedrich, because his uncle Gerhard von Kügelgen was a friend of the German painter. Julius Sergius von Klever studied at the Academy in St. Petersburg. After a rapid career with many awards, Julius Sergius von Klever fell into a crisis and left Petersburg in 1898, heavily in debt, and worked in Berlin for a few years until 1909. In 1915 he returned to Petersburg.

The view goes through a wintry, snow-covered forest, the tree trunks barring the vertical picture surface. Only in the middle does the view extend over a stream to a clearing where there is a snow-covered house with smoke rising from the chimney. The evening glow is reflected in the water of the stream. The warm, red light in the cold, white-gray landscape creates an effective contrast. Klever combines the romantic legacy of Caspar David Friedrich with naturalism and a freer brushstroke of modernism. He has dealt with the atmospheric theme of the forest in winter at sunset several times throughout his career. Signed in Cyrillic at the bottom right. and dated 1912. Oil on canvas, 122.5 × 96.5cm