Biography

German painter and printmaker. He studied painting at the Kunstschule in Weimar (1870). Prolonged illness forced him to interrupt his studies, which he resumed in 1874 under Ferdinand Schauss (1832-1916) and Alexandre Struys (1852-1941). Through visits to Paris in the 1870s, he came into contact with the art of the Barbizon school, painting "en plein-air" on his return to Weimar. Under the influence of Struys he painted figurative works, such as Roman Builders (1879; Westfälisches Landesmuseum, Münster), and nudes in the tradition of academically enlightened Realism. In 1881 Rohlfs worked in a studio under Max Thedy (1858-1924).

From c. 1883 he painted mainly landscapes with the approval of Ludwig von Gleichen-Russwurm (1836-1901), who was studying with Theodor Hagen (1842-1919), and was influenced in an indirect way by Albert Brendel (1827-1895), who had taught at Weimar from 1875. He often chose formats that were unusually large for landscape paintings in this period, presenting landscape in a similar way to history painting. Atmosphere and light played an important role even in these early pictures.

From 1884 he worked as an independent painter. After 1885 colour became increasingly important for its own sake; light and shade were suggested purely by colour, which was applied in impasto spots and brushstrokes to create chiaroscuro values that determined the form, for example Wild Garden near Weimar (1888; Weimar, Schlossmuseum). By the end of the 1880s he had developed an independent style parallel to Impressionist painting. When he saw works by Monet exhibited in Weimar in 1897, these corroborated his own efforts.

From 1895 Rohlfs stayed in Berlin; from1900 he was member of the Berlin Secession. In 1905-06 he painted in the summer months at Soest and met Nolde. From 1910 he turned to Expressionism; in 1911 he joined the New Secession and in 1914 the Free Secession. In 1914 he became a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin, but in 1937 all his works were confiscated by the Nazis as degenerate art, he was dismissed from the Berlin Academy and forbidden to paint.