Rutland Gallery, London
Jacques Fricker, France
The Redfern Gallery, London (acquired in 1960)
Christopher Bibby, London (acquired from the above in 1960)
Rutland Gallery, London
The Redfern Gallery, London (acquired in 2004)
Acquired from the above by the present owner in September 2004

Frankfurt, Frankfurter Kunstkabinett & Munich, Kunstkabinett Klihm, Alexej von Jawlensky, 1954, no. 28

Clemens Weiler, Alexej Jawlensky, Cologne, 1959, no. 630, illustrated p. 271
Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky & Angelica Jawlensky, Alexej von Jawlensky, Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, 1914-1933, London, 1992, vol. II, no. 1033, illust❀rated p. 279

The board is stable and there are no signs of retouching visible under UV light. Apart from some minor very light creases along the lower extreme edge, intrinsic to the support, this work is in good original condition.
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The present painting Variation: Sonnenaufgang is a prime example from the series of variations on a landscape, small, intimate and highly coloured landscapes that Jawlensky painted between 1915 and 1918. The artist had fled to Switzerland at the outbreak of World War I and abruptly ceased his series of heads. Deprived of a studio, he drew his inspiration from the view from his window from the small house he rented in Saint Prex on Lake Geneva. This new solitude nurtured his already great interest in spirituality and, strongly influenced by Robert Delaunay, Jawlensky began seeking a form of meditation through painting the Variations.

The artist recalls in his memoirs: 'It was very tiny, our house, and I had no room of my own, only a window which I could call mine. But it was so gloomy and unhappy in my soul after those dreadful experiences that I was quite content to sit at the window and quietly collect my thoughts and feelings. I had a bit of paint but no easel so I went in and bought a small easel from a photographer. He had used it to stand his photographs on. It was highly unsuitable for painting but for more than 20 years I have painted my best work on that little easel. At the beginning at Saint-Prex I tried to continue painting as I had in Munich, but something inside me would not allow me to go on with those colourful, powerful, sensual works. I realized that my soul had undergone a change as a result of so much suffering and that I therefore had to discover different forms and colours to express what my soul felt. I began my so-called 'variations on a landscape' which was the view from my window - a couple [of] trees, a path and the sky. I started trying to express through painting what I felt nature prompting me to say. By means of hard work and tremendous concentration I gradually found the right colours and form to express what my spiritual self demanded. I painted these colour variations every day, always drawing my inspiration from nature's mood at the time and from the way I felt inside' (quoted in Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky & Angelica Jawlensky, Alexej von Jawlensky, Catalogue Raisonné of Oil Paintings 1890 to 1914, London, 1991, vol. 1, p. 32).