Carl Moll

1861 Vienna - 1945 Vienna

  • Title Floral Still Life with Asters
  • Date c. 1915
  • Technic oil on canvas
  • Dimensions 64.4 x 54.3 cm
  • Signature monogram lower right: CM
  • Provenance private collection, Lower Austria
  • Literature Cabuk/Rollig/Huemer (ed.), Carl Moll. Monograph and catalogue raisonné, Belvedere catalogues raisonnés, vol. 11, Vienna 2020, p. 229, cat. rais. no. GE 387; cf. Natter/Frodl (ed.), Carl Moll 1861 – 1945, exhibition catalogue Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, 10 September – 12 November 1998, fig. 55
  • Other The artwork is registered in the online catalogue raisonné of the artist Carl Moll by Dr. Cornelia Cabuk in the Austrian Gallery Belvedere, Vienna under the cat. rais. no. GE 387.
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Framed by ivy leaves, a bouquet of bright asters is presented at the centre of the picture. One flower lies at the left edge along with a scattering of ivy leaves. Placed on a wooden table, the vase of flowers comes to the fore and represents the heart of the painting. Carl Moll has brilliantly evoked a sense of depth formed entirely through his brushwork. Moll has shifted to a bolder, more direct design in which the subject from nature is still unmistakable. Accents are introduced through light and shadow; the slightly diagonal view also plays an important role in conveying depth. Carl Moll’s ability to abstract elements of a scene, thereby translating naturalism into a new pictorial language, developed during his “Secessionist phase”. The artistic characteristics of this period comprise cropping, as well as the distribution and balancing of light and shadow, compactness and void. This still life with asters is an outstanding example of such traits. This remarkable painting – there are few comparable works – was only recently rediscovered and is now for the first time, after over half a century in a private collection, available for purchase again.