Der Baum der Sehnsucht (The Tree of Longing)
1920
Medium
lithograph on pale brown paper
Dimensions
sheet: 59 × 46 cm (23 1/4 × 18 1/8 in.)
Classification
Portfolio
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of the Collectors Committee
Accession Number
2006.24.11
Art Historical Context
**Der Baum der Sehnsucht (The Tree of Longing)**, created by Heinrich Hoerle in 1920, is a poignant lithograph on pale brown paper, measuring 59 × 46 cm. Hoerle, a German artist and co-founder of the progressive Cologne-based Gruppe Progress, captured the turbulent spirit of the early Weimar Republic in this work. Produced just two years after World War I's devastation, the piece reflects the era's widespread disillusionment, yearning for renewal, and existential longing—evident in its evocative title, which evokes a symbolic tree as a metaphor for human desire amid societal collapse. Lithogr...