Marinus Dittlinger - Still Life with Fruit in a Landscape

Marinus Dittlinger (1896–1954)

Still Life with Fruit in a Landscape

ca. 1929

Monogrammed lower right

Oil on canvas

38 × 29 cm

Presented in the original frame

Provenance:

Private collection, Leiden.

Condition:

In very good condition.

Additional information:

With an atmosphere that is both mysterious and poetic, this painting by Marinus Bonifacius Willem Dittlinger presents an intriguing composition in which a still life merges with a dreamlike, almost surreal landscape. In the foreground are an oval fruit, a round fruit and a split-open fruit with gleaming seeds. Within the Symbolist tradition, such motifs often evoke fertility, eroticism and transience.

The background depicts an imaginative mountain landscape bathed in the soft light of a full moon. The scene appears to emerge from an inner world. This dreamlike quality is characteristic of Dittlinger’s landscapes.

Marinus Dittlinger is regarded as a Dutch Symbolist who developed a quiet and suggestive visual language during the 1920s and 1930s. His work shows affinities with artists such as Jan Mankes and Dick Ket, while distinguishing itself through its more poetic, narrative character and subtle erotic undertones. Works by Dittlinger are held in the collections of the Noordbrabants Museum, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen and Stedelijk Museum Breda.

A particularly fine example of Dittlinger’s rare and atmospheric oeuvre.