oil on canvas, 82 x 91.5 cm, signed at the bottom left in black, "M. Cl. Crnčić"

Research information

The work was exhibited and reproduced in the catalog of the exhibition "Menci Clement Crnčić: Retrospective Exhibition", Art Pavilion in Zagreb, Zagreb, 1991, on page 86 under catalog number 123.

Menci Clement Crnčić (Bruck na Muri, 1865. - Zagreb, 1930.) was a Croatian painter and the first educated Croatian graphic designer. He studied painting in Vienna and Munich, and then, at the initiative of the Head of the Department for Worship and Instruction Isidore Kršnjavi, he improved in graphics with William Unger in Vienna. With Bela Čikoš Sesija, he founded a private painting school in Zagreb in 1903, from which the current Academy of Fine Arts has developed. He was a member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts and director of the Strossmayer Gallery of Old Masters, and his life and work were marked by numerous trips and stays on the Croatian coast. In his early phase, he mostly painted portraits under the influence of the Munich school of realism, and later he dedicated himself to landscapes, especially marines and coastal motifs, for which he remained recognizable. Under the influence of plein air painting, his palette became brighter and more open, with a pasty application of color and less elaboration of details, while in his later works, darker tones and a greater interest in light and atmosphere dominate. In addition to landscapes, he painted portraits and still lifes, and his graphic portfolio is particularly important: he has affirmed graphics as an independent artistic field in Croatian art with his etchings. The turbulent sea under heavy, dramatically shaped sky Crnčić puts in a horizontal composition with a low horizon that further emphasizes the expanse of the sea and the sky, and the small contours of the sailboat enhance the impression of depth and infinity of space. The sea is painted with free and energetic brush strokes in dark green, blue-green and grayish tones, speckled with almost white strokes as wave peaks and sea foam. The upper part of the picture is dominated by dark, leaden clouds under which the sunlight peeps through a lighter strip of clouds. Crncic's mature creation is seen precisely in the darkened palette and focus on the problem of light.

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