(Kappel, Carinthia, 1919–2014 Vienna)
‘Der Wald’, signed and dated on the reverse M. Lassnig 1985, oil on canvas, 205 x 140 cm, on stretcher, (K)

Illustrated and listed:
Christa Murken, Maria Lassnig, Verlag Murken-Altrogge, 1990, p. 225, fig. 131, p. 477, Catalogue Raisonné no. 436 (as dated 1987)

Provenance:
From an Austrian Collection
... I do not conceive a picture through my own will, I never know before what should be in the picture, if one figure or several, and what to paint around them. Intention would be the wire fence that would prevent depth, the abysses, compiled knowledge, desires and despairs from entering in their entirety.

Intention would be something concrete, which would be in the way. However, when I start, I start out from something vague I only wish to define during my work, from something mysterious I seek to illustrate, so that it will take me by surprise when it is there.

From: exhibition catalogue, Museum Moderner Kunst/Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts, Vienna 1985 26 August 1985

“Only now was I endowed with the talent to enjoy: the pleasure of having time on my hands (because this happens so rarely), the pleasure of being surrounded by nature (as a country child, I never realised nature)…”

Maria Lassnig, Die Feder ist die Schwester des Pinsels, Tagebücher 1943–1997, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Dumont, 2000 ‘My heart beats so hard it makes the outside world shake.’Maria Lassnig