Paul Müller Kaempff, View of Tenerife
Signed lower left: P. Müller-Kaempff
Paul Müller-Kaempff painted this large-format work during a trip to the Canary Islands organised by the Oldenburgisch-Portugiesische Reederei shipping company in 1913. According to the artist, he painted 24 works there of which several were displayed in the salons of the company's ships (Konrad Mahlfeld: Else Müller-Kaempff / Paul Müller-Kaempff. Catalogue raisonné vol. I, Ottersberg 2017, p. 175). Another work from the Canary Island series is illustrated in Mahlfeld (ibid.) on page 161.
This work represents a rare and fascinating enrichment to the oeuvre of this North German artist, as the whereabouts of most of the paintings from the Canary Islands series are currently unknown. The present work is thought to depict a view of the Island of Tenerife and leads the viewer's gaze out from a shadowy foreground over a group of trees in the centre displaying a masterful use of perspective towards scattered farmsteads and a mountain range in the background. Another unusual feature of this painting is Müller-Kaempff's addition of figures to his otherwise unpopulated landscapes, in this case he has included several of the island's inhabitants and a donkey.
Dr. Konrad Mahlfeld in Magdeburg, whom we would like to thank for his assistance in cataloguing this piece, will be including it in the third volume of his catalogue raisonné which is currently under preparation.