Walter Leistikow (1865-1908): Evening Mood at Schlachtensee (circa 1895); Stadtmuseum, Berlin.

The Schlachtensee near Berlin as portrayed here combines a sense of rest and peacefulness with melancholia; the darkness of the forest and the glimmering reflection of the last rays of the sun mingle to a quiet harmony. It was painted in 1895 by Walter Leistikow, one of the founding members of the Berlin Secession.
Toward the end of the 19th century and early 20th century, Secessionist movements sprang up all over Europe. Their goal was to cast off the stifling corset of the reigning conservative academic style, which prescribed classic shapes and idealized scenes. In Berlin, the academic style was strongly connected to the wishes of Emperor Wilhelm II. Wilhelm saw art as a means of glorifying German history and was abhorred by non-academic works, which he deemed anti-German and potentially disruptive. He made sure they were excluded from the “Salons,” where art was shown and sold. The foundation of the Berlin Secession in 1898 put an end to this political kidnapping of the arts.
At age 18, Leistikow had been dismissed from the government-run Berlin Academy for “lack of talent.” Unfazed, he took private lessons and developed his own style over time. He abandoned the common practice of adding staffage (human or animal figures) to his landscapes, focusing instead on their own intrinsic strength. His work seems to have a Scandinavian feel to it, in terms of tonality and prolonged lines, but also in its sense of loneliness and austere beauty. This might be explained by several connections: he had private lessons from a Norwegian teacher, befriended Edvard Munch during his stay in Berlin, and was married to a Danish poet. He also traveled through the Nordic countries, and upon his return, appreciated the lakes and forests of Mark Brandenburg, the area surrounding Berlin, with renewed passion.
In hindsight, the moody atmosphere of the Schlachtensee forest which he created proved eerily befitting: having suffered from third-stage syphilis for years, it was here that he shot himself. The beloved lake would be the scene of Leistikow’s last moments on earth.
(text: Pauline Dorhout)