  About the Artwork
  
  
  Scenes of nature such as Under the Trees were a powerful theme for Max Pechstein and his fellow members of the expressionist Brücke (Bridge) group. Pechstein, who had received an academic training, along with other Brücke members rejected the “Gedankenkunst” (cerebral art) of the art academies and introduced innovative artistic practices. The new method of working involved nonprofessional models who were asked to change poses every fifteen minutes to ensure spontaneity and allow the artists to capture the very essence of the scene. In 1911, Pechstein visited Nidden, a remote fishing village on the Curonian Peninsula on the Baltic Sea — the setting for this work. With quickly drawn but clear contours, Pechstein depicts naked women in harmony with nature, conveying a vision of an unspoiled existence, untouched by modernity.
  
  
  Title
  Under the Trees
  
  
  Artwork Date
  1911
  
  Artist
  Max Pechstein
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1881-1955
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  German
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Oil on canvas
  
  
  Dimensions
  Unframed: 29 × 39 inches (73.7 × 99.1 cm)
  Framed: 36 11/16 × 46 5/8 × 3 3/8 inches (93.2 × 118.4 × 8.6 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Paintings
  
  
  Department
  European Modern Art to 1970
  
  
  Credit
  City of Detroit Purchase
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  21.206
  
  
  Copyright
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