Boys at the Beach, 1919
Erich Heckelexpand_more
Oil on canvasexpand_more
Gift of Alfred and Ingrid Lenz Harrisonexpand_more 2023.31.1
On View in Gallery 371expand_more
Bathers were a central subject for Erich Heckel throughout his career. “Boys at the Beach,” executed a year after the close of World War I, is representative of his radical shift in approach following the war. Heckel's young men appear emaciated, stiff, and tentative; the standing figure cradles his chest as though he is cold or feels shame. Rather than enjoying the nature that surrounds them, the men are depicted turning their backs to the sea and the beach and psychologically distancing themselves from both their world and each other. Heckel’s figures are symbolic of the trauma of the "Great War" and loss of carefree pleasures that followed.
Details
- Title
- Boys at the Beach
- Artist Life
- 1883 - 1970
- Role
- Artist
- Accession Number
- 2023.31.1
- Provenance
- The artist ('sold to Ferd); Gustav Ferd. Jung, Hagen (by 1943–81, his estate sale, Sotheby's, London, December 2, 1981 no. 151). [Lafayette Parke Gallery, New York and San Francisco; until 1993, sold, May 5, to Harrison]; Alfred and Ingrid Lenz Harrison, Wayzata (1993–2023; given to Mia)
- Curator Approved
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