The Hülsenbeck children
|
| The Hülsenbeck children |
|---|
| Philipp Otto Runge , 1805–1806 |
| Oil on canvas |
| 131 × 141 cm |
| Hamburger Kunsthalle |
The Hülsenbeckschen Kinder is one of the most famous paintings by the German painter Philipp Otto Runge ; it is exhibited in the Kunsthalle Hamburg .
description
The picture shows three children playing in front of a precisely aligned fence, behind which plants are growing. On the left six sunflower blossoms protrude into the picture, on the right you can see the summer house of the Hülsenbeck family in Eimsbüttel , at that time still a village outside the city. Between the older children and the flower, the view opens into a landscape. In the background (from right) the towers of the main Hamburg churches St. Katharinen , St. Nicolai , St. Petri and, hidden behind the sunflowers, St. Jakobi can be seen.
The children of Friedrich August Hülsenbeck , a partner of Daniel Runge , the painter's brother, are shown. Two-year-old Friedrich is sitting in the car, being pulled by his four-year-old brother August and five-year-old sister Maria. The viewer is at eye level with the children and is thus transported into their world of experience. The children don't smile and don't look cute.
The youngest clutches a leaf of the sunflower blindly while he opens his eyes in amazement. The older one has grasped the handle of the tiller and is swinging his whip vigorously, while the girl is already showing herself responsible and giving the little one a sign with her right hand. Three stages of childhood development are literally shown here.
It is also noteworthy that the siblings play in front of the fence, not restrictedly enclosed, but freely, in the wild.
exhibition
The picture was donated to the Hamburger Kunstverein in 1862 by Richard Hülsenbeck. After the Kunsthalle opened in 1869, however, it initially remained in the magazine. It was only Alfred Lichtwark that included it in the permanent exhibition. The picture was damaged by fragments of bombs during World War II.
literature
- Wieland Schmied in collaboration with Tilmann Buddensieg , Andreas Franzke and Walter Grasskamp (eds.): Harenberg Museum of Painting. 525 masterpieces from seven centuries . Dortmund: Harenberg Lexikon Verlag, 1999. ISBN 3-611-00814-1
- Thomas Sello: We have to become children if we want to achieve the best . In: Lichtwark booklet No. 75. Verlag HB-Werbung, Hamburg-Bergedorf, 2010. ISSN 1862-3549 .
- Jörg Traeger : Philipp Otto Runge, The Hülsenbeck Children . Frankfurt am Main: Fischer, 1987. ISBN 3-596239427
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b image description on the Hamburger Kunsthalle website
- ↑ "The Hülsenbeck Children" by Philipp Otto Runge
- ↑ Schmied: Harenberg Museum of Painting
- ^ Rainer Alexander Gimmel: "The most famous children's picture in German art history". "The Hülsenbeck Children" by Philipp Otto Runge . In: Meditation , Volume 38 (2012), Issue 4 ( special issue “Children”), ISSN 0171-3841 . Pp. 22-27.
- ↑ Uwe Bahnsen: A look into paradise at the gates of the city . In: Welt am Sonntag , August 28, 2005
Web links
- Runge at www.blinde-kuh.de