Eesti kunsti oksjonid

Oil on plywood. First half of the 1940s.
Signature: Võerahansu / Lõuna Eesti motiiv 36,5×61,5

Considered one of Estonia’s most powerful landscape painters, the poetic motifs of Johannes Võerahansu (1902–1980) were never about the mere documentation of a scene. Before starting to paint, the artist sat down and immersed himself in the rhythms and tonal depths of the scene before him until stories began to ring out in it that made his heart flutter.

“The more you delve into the artist’s simple motifs, the more you discover the painterly finesse in them. Even a smaller, sometimes only sketchy view has a monumental effect. The vastness and distances of the landscape are always emotionally connected to the sky, whether it is brightly transparent or covered in gray clouds,” wrote Hilja Läti in the catalogue of the Võerahansu exhibition (Estonian Art Museum 1976).

This painting of the curved landscape of South Estonia was most likely painted in 1943, as it is from this year that various variations of a similar motif originate (“Haanja motif”, Estonian Museum of Fine Arts and “Between the valleys of Haanja”, private collection). Like Richard Uutmaa, Võerahansu loved to paint the view that had once inspired him in new weather, from a new perspective or in a new mood, finding new nuances of colour each time. This work is particularly captivating for its wide and spacious perspective and its ripe and robust summery colouring, not to mention the flowers pressed into the foreground as only a few lumps of tone– can you also smell the fresh scent of clover? The cherry on top is the sky, with its light white clouds, which set the bright and summery mood of the entire painting.

Text: Katre Palm