Charmed by Italy’s romantic aesthetics and inspired by its warmth and light, the Post-Impressionist artist Konstantin Gorbatov created some of his most accomplished paintings while living on the island of Capri in the early 1920s. Gorbatov and his wife emigrated to Berlin in 1926, but he returned annually to Italy until the beginning of World War II. The monumental Boats in a Harbour, dated 1928, is an exquisite example of Gorbatov’s strength as a colourist and his bold mastery of light and shadow. The work was first acquired by a distinguished American collector and art history professor during his travels through Germany in 1972, and the painting has hung in his carefully curated private collection in the United States for forty years.
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