Provenance

The artist, Berlin, then Davos, Switzerland; by descent to his common-law wife, Erna Kirchner (née Schilling, 1884–1945), Davos, Switzerland, 1938; by inheritance to the Estate of the Artist (die Kirchner-Erbengemeinschaft), 1945; transferred to the Kunstmuseum, Basel, Switzerland, 1945 [see note 1]; sold to the Curt Valentin Gallery, New York, by 1952; sold to Walter Bareiss (1919–2007), Greenwich, Conn., 1952; given to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 1962

Note 1: Prior to her death in 1945, an agreement had been worked out between Erna Kirchner and the artist’s heirs, his brothers, Hans Walter Kirchner and Ulrich Kirchner, whereby Erna was permitted to hold and dispose of works from the artist’s estate during her lifetime. After her death, the heirs as German citizens could not claim the estate in Switzerland. Between 1945 and 1953, the Basel Kunstmuseum was legally authorized to administer and to catalogue the Estate, and to sell portions in order to pay for its upkeep. For more on the history of the Kirchner Estate, see: Eberhard W. Kornfeld, Die Geschichte des Nachlasses von Ernst Ludwig Kirchner ab 1938 bis heute, (Galerie Kornfeld Verlag, AC: Bern), 2021, pp.9–14