BARLACH, ERNST
1870 Wedel–1938 Rostock

Title: Der Zweifler.
Date: 1930 (draft).
Technique: Bronze, brown-patinated.
Measurement: 50.5 x 28 x 20 cm.
Notation: Signed verso lower right: E. Barlach.
Foundry mark: Next to it foundry mark H. NOACK BERLIN.



Provenance:
- - Galerie Beelte-Preyer, Münster

- Private colleection North Rhine-Westphalia


Literature:
- Laur, Elisabeth: Ernst Barlach - Werkverzeichnis II, Das plastische Werk, Güstrow 2006, cat. rais. no.. 470, ill.



- High recognition value due to the unique design language

- One of the most famous sculptures in the late work of the significant expressionist sculptor

- Beautiful patina changing from brown to golden





The sculpture The Doubter (Der Zweifler) belongs to the central works of Ernst Barlach’s late oeuvre and simultaneously reflects his personal circumstances. The inner conflict between the compulsion to decide and doubt is powerfully conveyed through the intertwined hands and the resigned facial expression. Although doubt is a profoundly human condition, it has received relatively little attention in the visual arts and has instead remained a more central motif in literature.

With this sculpture, Barlach succeeds in making his own anxieties about the future visible. In doing so, he deliberately focuses on the hands and face as the principal carriers of expression. The kneeling posture of the figure further intensifies the impression of renunciation and inner resignation, both closely associated with the condition of doubt.

Against the backdrop of an era in which human beings were generally portrayed as self-assured and free of uncertainty, shaping the future with confidence—even in contemporary sculpture—the conceptual orientation of this work already appears remarkably courageous. Barlach consciously embraced this artistic risk, thereby creating a compelling testament to a steadfast personality poised at the threshold of inner resistance.









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#Ernst Barlach #Expressionism #Berlin Secession #Germany #Modern Art #Figure / Figures #Sculpture #1930s #Sculptures.







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