Portrait of Dr Peter Kloock

Details

Löffler 1960/3.

Provenance:
Collection Dr Peter Kloock, Constance/Lake Constance, since then in family ownership.

Description

• Late work in which the portrait becomes Dix’s preferred motif
• Portrait of the well-known Constance urologist Dr Peter Kloock
• Excellent characterisation of the person as a successful doctor and likeable person

This expressive portrait depicts the Constance urologist Dr Peter Kloock. Dix met the doctor as a patient around 1956. Their acquaintance quickly developed into a personal friendship, which was ended all too soon by Kloock’s early death in 1960 at the age of 39. Kloock appreciated Dix’s humour; in addition to his portrait, he acquired other works by the painter, partly to support him financially. After the death of his friend, Dix remained close to the Kloock family. Three years later, he painted a portrait of his younger daughter Daniela Kloock, then just five years old (Löffler 1963/3), which according to Löffler is one of Dix’s outstanding paintings of children.

The portrait is at the centre of Dix’s late work. The forms are now simplified, the colours are applied more purely, the palette becomes more luminous. The colours in the present portrait also appear friendly and bright. The undefined background concentrates the gaze on the face with the bright blue eyes. These must have impressed Dix, because in the preparatory charcoal drawing (Lorenz SW 5.6.21) the characteristic blue eyes are emphasised with light blue pastel chalk. Dix captures the character of his friend through the slight smile, the rolled-up sleeves and the dynamic hand movement. Fritz Löffler writes about these late portraits: “As charming as the female portraits are, they are far surpassed by the male portraits of these late years. In them, Dix was once again able to express his capacity for characterisation with complete freedom.” (Löffler 1981, p. 75).

The monogram with the date “60” at the top right of the picture, which can be recognised in the catalogue raisonné, was probably removed later at the request of the client and sitter, Dr Kloock. Remnants of it are still recognisable under UV light.