Alexander Koester

After moving to Klausen in the Eisack Valley in 1896, the ducks in the pond of his father-in-law, an innkeeper, became the artist's daily objects of contemplation. They became the central motif of his work. Observing the animals in their natural environment offered him insight into ever new, subtle nuances of colour and lighting, reflections on the water and fluffed plumage, atmospheric effects. He captures the fleeting, changeable nature of his observations in various media, but especially in pastel chalk, which allows him to work quickly in front of the object. In this composition in oil, which he varied several times, he shows eight ducks swimming close together in shallow water. The surface of the water reflects the setting sunset.