Pine Tree

c. 1897

Pine Tree, c. 1897. Giovanni Segantini (Italian, 1858–1899). Oil on fabric; framed: 149.5 x 84.8 x 4.1 cm (58 7/8 x 33 3/8 x 1 5/8 in.); unframed: 135.2 x 72 cm (53 1/4 x 28 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1982.124 Segantini painted this view of a pine tree in the Swiss Alps with his distinctive combination of brilliant colors applied in small, broken strokes. Rather than a direct transcription of nature, the extreme close-up view and the flat, decorative space are designed to arouse an emotional response. Finding spiritual consolation in the lush forests and clear light around his home in the Alps, Segantini wrote: “I am now working passionately to wrest the secret of Nature’s spirit from her. Nature utters the eternal word to the artist: love, love; and the earth sings life in spring, and the soul of things reawakens.” The bottom right portion of this painting was left unfinished; the earth-red ground layer is still visible.