Eesti kunsti oksjonid

Oil on canvas. 1920.
Signature: O. Obst. 1920.

“So bright and light, so deep
and gentle is the calm mind.

I danced in the sky and in the fire,
I was swimming in the dark water.”

Excerpt from Doris Kareva’s poem “So bright and light, so deep”

Oskar-Henrich Obst (1883–1945), who studied under Ants Laikmaa, painted mostly Estonian landscape motifs in a naturalistic style influenced by impressionist plein air painting. The number of his surviving paintings is small, and therefore it is a great joy for art lovers to come across another great work.

In the year this large-format painting was completed, Obst participated in the exhibition of Baltic German artists on Pikk Street in Tallinn, and it is possible that he participated with “Moonlit night” specifically. The sea was one of Obst’s favorite motifs, which he loved to depict in rich, deep colors. The colors appeared especially powerful in the light of sunset and night, and this is how his paintings mostly depict this time. It takes a master’s hand to convincingly convey in a single work both the depth of a forest strip that has almost merged into the twilight of the night and the gentle ripples dancing on the sea surface in bright beams of light.

Text: Katre Palm