oil on canvas
92,5 x 109,5 cm
verso signed and inscribed on the painting by author’s hand: “Wenn das letzte Licht / mich streift, werde ich lebendig / OK“ (“When the last light / touches me, I come alive / OK”)

This is the first sale of the work at auction.
No painting with similar gallery provenience, artistic significance and art historical connotations has ever been auctioned in the territory of the Czech Republic in the nation’s history, and the work will undoubtedly form a highlight in any prestigious state or private museum or collection. This unique painting from an important period of the painter’s work (1920 – the so-called Dresden period) ranks among the most important in the entire Oskar Kokoschka oeuvre.
The painter also used his fingers to paint this impasto work.

The painting was issued a permanent export license by the national governmental authorities of the Czech Republic in Januar y 2023.

Provenance:
– Richard Lányi, Vienna (until 1925)
– Galerie Ernst Arnold, Dresden
– Fritz Salo Glaser, Dresden (before 1929)
– Hans Dittmayer, Dresden (acquired in 1942 from Dr. Fritz Salo Glaser, who was forced to sell the work in order to pay a Jewish Property Tax), the collection was transferred to Petrovice and in 1945 to Prague
– Galerie V. Horejs, Prague
– Czech-American private collection
– Gallery Zlata husa, Prague

– Private collection

Exhibited:
– Biennale Venice, [May–October] 1922. XIII. Esposizione internazionale d‘arte della Città di Venezia, Res.: L. Brosch in: Der Cicerone, Leipzig, Jg. 14, 1922, H. 12, S. 509–510; Hans Posse: Der deutsche Pavillon auf der XIII Internationalen Kunstausstellung zu Venedig. In: Art and Artists, Berlin, Jg. 20,
1921/22, H. 11, July 1922, S. 396–398 with illustrations. p. 400, no. 27
– Galerie Paul Cassirer Berlin, [March–July] 1923.Oskar Kokoschka. Catalogue not documented, sources: p. Kuhn 1923; Westheim 1923); Paul Landau in: Berliner Börsenzeitung, no. 164, April 10, 1923; Roland Schacht: Um Kokoschka. In: Das blaue Heft. Freie deutsche Bühne“ Berlin, Jg. 4, 1922 /23, pp. 322–326; Karl Scheffler in: Kunst und Künstler, Berlin, Jg. 21, 1922 / 23, H. 8, May 1923, pp. 243–245; F. Stahl: Kokoschka. In: Berliner Tageblatt (Berlin Daily), April 10, 1923; Willi Wolfradt in: Cicerone, Leipzig, Jg. 15, 1923, H. 8, p. 392
– Wien Secession, Vienna, September 11 – October 20, 1924. Internationale Kunstausstellung. Gesellschaft zur Förderung Moderner Kunst in Wien, Rez: Der Cicerone, Leipzig, Jg. 16, 1924, H. 20, P. 979, no. 72
– Dresden, Galerie Ernst Arnold, January 18– end of February, 1925. Oskar Kokoschka. Gemälde, Handzeichnungen, Aquarelle, Drucke. Introduction V. Chelius-Zitzewitz. Reviews: (see Donath 1925; Grohmann 1925; Michalski
1925; Weigert 1925); Hildebrand Gurlitt in: Das Kunstblatt, Potsdam, Jg. 9, 1925, H. 2, S. 62; Fritz Stahl: Kokoschka. Galerie Arnold in Dresden. In: Berliner Tageblatt (Berlin Daily), Jan. 25, 1925; Negendanck 1998, S. 154–155, 499–500, Nr. 35, Abb. S. [14]
– Düsseldorf, Kunstpalast, May 30– October 4, 1925, Grosse Kunstausstellung Düsseldorf 1925 . Catalogue, sections II and III: no. 1187, Modernes deutsches und Düsseldorfer Kunstschaf fen
– Dresden, Sächsischer Kunstverein, April 11 – mid Ma y, 1929, Neuere Kunstwerke aus Dresdner Privatbesitz. III. Jubiläumsausstellung. Rez.: Will Grohmann: Dresden. Neue Kunstwerke aus Dresdener Priva tbesitz. In: Der Cicerone, Leipzig, Jg. 21, 1929, H. 9, S. 268–270, Nr. 162
– Wien, Unteres Belvedere, October 22, 2015 – February 28, 2016, Klimt / Schiele / Kokoschka und die Frauen, edited by Agnes Husslein-Arco, Jane Kallir and Alfred Weidinger, colour reproduction 108

Publicated:
– Hans Tietze: Oskar Kokoschka 1920. In: Ararat, Munich, No. 8/9 – special issue Vienna August / September 1921, p. 223
– Victor Wallerstein: Die neuen Werke Oskar Kokoschkas. In: Kunst und Künstler, In: Art and Artists, Berlin, Jg. 20, 1921/22, H. 2, November 1921, p. 45 with fig.
– Anton Faistauer: Neue Malerei in Österreich. Betrachtungen eines Malers. Zurich [and others]: Amalthea-Verlag 1923, fig. 36
– Paul Westheim: Oskar Kokoschka. Das Werk Kokoschkas in 135 Abbildungen. Berlin: Paul Cassirer 1925 [expanded edition Westheim 1918 a, pp. 90–91]
– Mathias Wagner: Die Sammlung Hans Dittmayer. In: Heike Biedermann, Ulrich Bischoff und Mathias Wagner (eds.): Von Monet bis Mondrian. Meisterwerke der Moderne aus Dresdner Priva tsammlungen der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts. Dresden: Galerie Neue Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, München, Berlin: Deutscher Kunstverlag 2006, pp. 127–137, p. 136

The Austrian artist Oskar Kokoschka had an affair with Alma Mahler, widow of the composer Gustav Mahler, from 1912 to 1914. This affair profoundly influenced his life and art. At first, his palette brightened, acquiring thick brush strokes and flashes of light and dark that indicated his widely varying psychological and emotional state. Expressing in paint what he did not or could not express in words, his art of this period can be understood as an intimate visual diary of the vicissitudes of his relationship with Alma Mahler. For Kokoschka, his work became a form of art therapy, following the crushing loss of Alma Mahler and the near-fatal physical injuries he sustained in World War I.

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