Bird Cloud by Lyonel Feininger: Nature patterns transformed in art | Artworks Explained

"I already know one thing: I'm giving humanity a new perspective on the world. Hopefully I will live to see it captured in 100 paintings". This was Lyonel Feininger's prophetic wish, which he formulated in a letter to his wife in 1914.
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The artist studied nature closely and made sketches again and again until he had grasped the essential forms. Patterns he found in nature were renewed and transfigured in his art. His painting "Bird Cloud" from 1926 is a fine example of this process.
Lyonel Charles Adrian Feininger (1871-1956 in New York) was a German-US painter, graphic artist and caricaturist. From 1909 he was a member of the Berlin Secession. With his work at the Bauhaus since 1919, he is one of the most important artists of Classical Modernism.
Feininger only came to painting at the age of 36. Before that, he worked for a long time as a commercial caricaturist for various German, French and US newspapers and magazines. He subjected his work to harsh self-critical scrutiny and, starting from his caricatures, quickly developed a very distinctive style of painting. In his paintings, objects are abstracted and creatively exaggerated. The strength and expression of Feininger's style achieved in this way influenced numerous contemporary artists and established his importance and success. Feininger often used motifs and compositions from his own caricatures and sketches in his works.
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