Lili Schultz, Halle (acquired in 1930 by the artist in Paris) / Private Collection, Bavaria (from Lili Schultz to the current owner by inheritance)

Hans Reichel 1892–1958. Gemälde, Aquarelle. Würzburg, Städtische Galerie 1981, cat. no. 3, ill. p. 28 / Surrealismus in Deutschland? Kunst von 1919 bis 1949. Bad Frankenhausen, Panorama Museum, 2021

Heinrich Ragaller: Hans Reichel. Würzburg, Echter Verlag, 1975, ill. p. 2

Henry Miller on Hans Reichel: “What was it that made his conversation so charming and so utterly unusual, if not the aura of top-secret, eavesdrop-proof dialogues with flowers, trees, birds and fish that surrounded him? [...] after he had listened long and patiently to the tireless ‘twiet-twiet’ of a bird: ‘Today I have finally understood what this bird has been trying to tell me for a long time.’ (Henry Miller, in: François Mathey, Hans Reichel, p. 32) In Hans Reichel’s works, which have a fairy-tale quality, abstract forms drawn from the world of perception are combined with dreamlike, lyrical elements in an infinitely varied palette of colours. ‘Vogeltraum’ was created in 1929, the year in which Reichel moved to Paris and his art was also set to evolve further. His close friendship with the artist Paul Klee endured throughout these years, and with it his harmonious worlds of colour and form, which find a special expression in this work.