Eesti kunsti oksjonid

Oil on canvas. 1948.
Signature: Kristjan Teder 1948.

Kristjan Teder (1901-1960), a graduate of Pallas, is one of the most important Estonian flower painters and the richly fragrant lilacs were among the artist’s greatest favorites. The artist enjoyed detail and wholeness, colorism and visual accents in his work, and “The Magic of Lilacs” fits this description perfectly.

Despite the complex art politics of the late 1940s, he continued to depict flowers and thereby created something else in this classically composed painting – namely, psychological meaning. At a time when impressionist “formalism” was given less and less space, flower painting became a calming refuge for the artist. By painting in a detailed style such an unpretentious motif as a bouquet of various lilacs in full bloom, Teder paints a picture of a certain sense of anticipation and hope, of the therapeutically magical nature of nature.

Text: Harry Liivrand, Katre Palm