Heinrich Brüne
March 1955
“Renoir did not paint a sad picture. Heinrich Brüne's life's work also tells of the happiness of existence. Both painters were friends. In 1910, the French master was a guest of the German artist in Unterpfaffenhofen. A drawing in which Brüne captured the 68-year-old Renoir at work recalls his stay in Bavaria.
Brüne developed under the spell of French Impressionism. The large ‘Picnic in the Woods’ of 1912 impresses with its gradation of color and tone. Then the palette becomes lighter and looser. In ‘Weßlinger See’ of 1920 it is dissolved into gossamer tones. But there is no restless flickering on the canvas. A sensitive eye catches colors and nature. But Brüne simplifies because he simply sees. ‘In the Pine Forest’ and ‘Street’ the colors have again solidified under Derain's influence and acquired contours. These paintings are tuned to brown and dark green. But in the watercolors (Hilly Landscape, Sugana Valley) the motifs are again light, fluid and transparent. And pleasant looseness, cheerful melody sounds unobtrusively from some other picture. The atmospheric becomes visible. The light has become color. And the capture of light through color is the main theme of the work. For all his dependence on great models, Brüne has arrived at a personally authenticated form. His painterly skill, the lightness of delivery and the Southern German grace of style still delight the eye today.”
(Fritz Nemitz in the Süddeutsche Zeitung of March 29, 1955)