Artwork
Cotele apelor Dunării
Cotele apelor Dunării is an unspecified painting by Max Hermann Maxy. It dates from 1926 and is held in the collection of the National Museum of Art of Romania.
About this work
Overview
“Cotele apelor Dunării,” painted by Max Hermann Maxy in 1926, captures a bustling interior of a city tram. The composition is dominated by vivid blues, yellows, and reds, with the tram’s number 175 prominently displayed on the side. The scene is rendered with a flat, graphic quality that emphasizes the immediacy of urban life.
Subject & Meaning
The work portrays passengers and the tram’s interior details: a figure in a striped shirt grips a pole near the front, empty seats face backward, and a large yellow banner hangs centrally. Beyond the windows, façades and a fire escape suggest a typical street in Bucharest, reflecting everyday movement along the Danube’s waterways.
Technique & Style
Maxy employs impasto, applying paint in thick, tactile layers that give the surface a sculptural presence. Bold, decisive brushstrokes delineate forms, creating sharp edges and a sense of flatness. The saturated palette and simplified shapes align with a modernist approach, emphasizing color and texture over realistic depth.
History & Provenance
Created in the interwar period, the painting belongs to Maxy’s early oeuvre, when he was active in Romanian artistic circles. Its title references the Danube River, a central motif in regional identity. The work has remained in public collections, serving as a visual record of 1920s urban transport in Romania.
Artist & collection
Artist
Max Hermann Maxy was a Romanian painter, art professor, scenographer, and professor of German-Jewish descent.
