(Oberndorf 1891–1958 Kitzbühel)
At the tavern, monogrammed AW, on the reverse label (woodcut): Alfons Walde Kitzbühel Tirol, oil on cardboard, 27.5 x 29.8 cm, framed

Dr. Gert Ammann examined this work in the original in March 2018 and gave an oral confirmation on its authenticity.

Registered:
Walde-Archive no. D-FI-241

Provenance:
Private Collection, Linz

Extract from a letter by Alfons Walde to Gustinus Ambrosi, Kitzbühel 2 June 1925

Dear Ambrosi,
you are now safely back from Rome and can with satisfaction regard the whole thing as a success. If you think how much power and energy you had to expend on this dangerous battle, everyone you worked for is very much in your debt. What you did for me was absolutely selfless. You kicked me forward, or pulled me out of the corner by my hair, long before I would have dared to. In my future works, I hope I will not disappoint you or those who believe in me. Today, I feel like I am being propelled forward, and that I am experiencing curious clarity. I am less and less interested in works by other artists. I cannot draw anything from them. Nature alone remains my model.
Currently, my work is targeted towards income, focusing solely on small and medium-sized formats. I need to paint pictures that I know I will be able to sell, and nowadays that’s not so easy. I need money for my future work, and a frugal life and saving is absolutely not worth as much to me as the best work of art. This idealism existed once upon a time. Ultimately, I also have a wife who needs food and clothing, and it would do great damage to my health. […]

In many respects is a good thing that the desire to buy artwork has decreased. The army of dilettantes and bluffers (modern art) will die off, and the pure and the real will survive. The work of art must exist on an individual plane, and be designed in such a way that it seems to be something strange and valuable to a layperson. It must exist in such a way that it simply cannot be copied. If I look at a Velasquez or a Rembrandt this feeling will immediately come to the fore. – Things that are rare, are valuable. Just look at gold. – We live in a great era where clarity is more imminent than ever. The Russians are ahead of everyone else. They know what they want. Clear form. The topic and concept are striking, not the technique. Everyone should paint how they see things, and not otherwise.
So, depicting things well = basic requirements.
Personal concept in line with the zeitgeist = the status of the work.
The first represents a coarse sieve, the second a coarser one, both together the coarsest one. […]