Spring Pastures, 1896
Giovanni Segantini - Oil on canvas - cm 95 × 155
Segantini was every fond of this picture, considering it one of his most successful as well as symptomatic of his poetic vision. Painted in 1896, it was immediately shown at international exhibitions in Munich, Zurich and Venice and acquired for the Hennemberg collection in Zurich. It remained there until 1898, when it was sold to the Austrian state collection for 25,000 florins.
Reentering the antique market in 1949, it was acquired on the recommendation of Fernanda Wittgens by Carlo Pesenti, president of the Amici di Brera association at the time. The naturalistic subject of the mountain landscape, represented by the Divisionist technique of slender brushstrokes of pure colors set side by side, is interpreted by the artist in a symbolistic key, in a serene and intensely lyrical atmosphere.