Portret dziewczynki

Portret dziewczynki

Description:
Hugo Heinz König (1856-1899)
was a German artist. He studied with Erwin Oehme in Dresden, then at the Munich Academy with Otto Sietz, Ludwig von Löfftz and Wilhelm von Lindenschmit. He was a member of the Munich Secession and a professor at the Academy in Munich. In his work he dealt with genre and landscape painting. He was inspired by Impressionism.

Description of the painting:

The painting depicts a girl sitting on a chair. The model is shown full-length in a natural pose, her hands folded on her lap and her feet crossed but not reaching the floor. She is dressed in a white loose dress with puffy sleeves and a white tied bonnet. Her face is shown in a half-profile, her pale complexion and light blond hair almost merging with the snow-white costume. The background of the child is an interior of a room. An important element of the decor is a piece of furniture with mirrors. The white costume of the girl is reflected in them.

The artist used a subdued palette of colors. The two most prominent color accents are the blue vase and the yellow flowers placed on the furniture. The introduction of the mirror motif to the interior creates depth of representation while brightening the dark room. The artist also focuses on depicting light phenomena. For this purpose, he uses the properties of the materials from which the objects are made. He shows the light reflections on the metal, polished chair handles, ceramic vase and vase with flowers, as well as on the shading of the mirror. He also shows the shadow cast on the wall by the figure of the girl. The work is classified as part of the Munich Secession, which is emphasized by the secession elements in the interior decoration.