Afternoon on Capri

Capri. Monte Castiglione and the coastline by the Marina Grande are in dazzling sunlight. This bleaches the colors and heightens the contrast between the dark shadows and the “cool” blue of the sea. In this blazing heat a young fisherman sits on a wall and plays the zither for his lover. He is essential to the scene as fishermen epitomized the carefree, authentic life in—and this is important for our understanding of Blechen’s painting—an ancient cultural landscape that had already been settled by the Greeks, as the wall illustrates. Blechen was in Capri in 1829 and made numerous sketches, although he painted this picture in his Berlin studio.

Not on display