Nude in Matisse style

Alongside landscapes, still lifes and portraits, nude painting played a major role among the German "Matisse students". Purrmann came to Paris as a young artist in 1905 and fell into the circle of revolutionary artists who prioritized color above all else.
He became the first pupil of Henri Matisse, who founded his own private painting school, where he built on academic traditions with intensive studies of the nude. His use of bright colors, which were primarily intended to express emotional feelings, was completely new at the time.
Even works created long after his return to Germany, such as the "Seated Nude" from 1925, still reveal the influence of his famous teacher. The focus is on the sensual, naked female body, whose skin tones feature shades of turquoise, green, and red. The background, by contrast, serves merely as decorative embellishment.