Oil on canvas. Signed and dated on the reverse. 230 x 190 cm. . [JS].

• Hitzler depicts existential emotional landscapes—navigating death, suffering, and joy—in his characteristic style of painting, executed with spontaneity and impulsiveness.
• Powerful, vibrant in color, and executed on a large scale, Hitzler condenses signs and symbols into artistic shorthand, placing them on the canvas like mysterious hieroglyphs.
• Rembrandt/Rubens/Titian: Franz Hitzler’s painting is strongly influenced by the themes and motifs of Old Master history painting, whose existential messages he translates into a modern, abstract-seeming visual language.
• Hitzler studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich from 1967 to 1972..

Galerie Zwirner, Cologne. Private collection, Rhineland (acquired from the above in 1987)

In good condition. Isolated spots of technically-induced shrinkage cracks or fine craquelure, occurring sporadically, for example, in the lower left corner, there is barely noticeable loss of paint in the impasto areas. Edges show minimal signs of wear in places.