Walter Mafli (1915–2017), Painting 2016, oil pastel on cardboard mounted on panel, signed and dated

Walter Mafli (1915–2017), Composition, 2016, oil pastel on cardboard mounted on panel

Signed and dated

64x99 cm 

Framed

About the Painting:

We are pleased to present a beautiful and emotionally charged painting by the late Swiss artist Walter Mafli, a painter whose talent and poetic vision positioned him among the most promising rising Swiss artists of his generation. His recent passing has sadly ended a life devoted to art, but has at the same time ignited a renewed interest for his work. As no new creations will emerge, Mafli’s paintings have gained strong recognition and rising value, reflecting a growing appreciation among collectors.

Bathed in a commanding field of incandescent orange-red, Walter Mafli's Composition (2016) radiates warmth, energy, and quiet contemplation. The painting is an eloquent exercise in geometric abstraction, where broad planes of saturated color replace representation, inviting the viewer into an emotional rather than literal landscape.

The expansive orange ground, rich with visible scratches, layered pigments, and subtle tonal shifts, reveals the artist's tactile process and decades of painterly confidence. Emerging from this luminous field are two deep crimson rectangular forms that establish a calm architectural rhythm, while two striking cobalt-blue vertical blocks overlap the composition, introducing a compelling visual counterpoint. The intense dialogue between the warm reds and the cool blues creates both tension and harmony, lending the work a remarkable sense of depth despite its deliberately flattened space.

A narrow off-white vertical band at the right edge acts as a moment of visual respite, balancing the composition and emphasizing Mafli's masterful understanding of proportion and negative space. The textured oil pastel surface retains an immediacy that allows every mark and scrape to remain visible, transforming the material into an expressive language of its own.

Executed in the final year of the artist's long career, Composition embodies Walter Mafli's mature artistic vision—one that distills form, color, and texture into their essential expressive qualities. Free from narrative constraints, the work celebrates the emotional resonance of pure abstraction, where luminous color fields and refined geometry evoke stillness, balance, and introspection. Both monumental and intimate, this late masterpiece stands as a testament to Mafli's lifelong pursuit of harmony through abstraction, offering collectors a work of enduring sophistication and timeless visual impact.

Artist Biography:

Walter Mafli is a Swiss artist born on May 10, 1915 in Rebstein, Canton St. Gallen. He was placed in an orphanage at an early age, where he spent his childhood and adolescence. An art teacher noticed his talent and made him aware of it. As an orphan, Walter Mafli was unable to continue his studies. Forced to earn his living as soon as possible, he began an apprenticeship as a stove fitter and then as a tiler. In 1934, he moved to Neuchâtel, where he frequented the painters Edouard Galli, Max Theynet, the Barraud brothers, Octave Matthey and L'Eplattenier. He takes advantage of their teaching by accompanying them to paint in nature. He took part in his first group exhibition in 1943 at the Casino d'Yverdon. In 1944, he took courses at the Ecole cantonale de dessin in Lausanne, then spent long periods in Paris, where he discovered post-war abstract art. From then on, he had one solo exhibition after another in various galleries in French-speaking Switzerland, and in 1958 was awarded the first Prix de peinture abstraite by the Galerie Kasper, then based in Lausanne. In 1959, the same gallery awarded him the Prix Suisse de la peinture abstraite. Despite this recognition, it wasn't until around 1980 that Walter Mafli gained the recognition of a wider public. By then, he had become a veritable success story. His canvases continued to attract buyers, and the value of his work became apparent. He entered major private and public collections.

Far from fashions, he has tried his hand at all styles, from abstract to figurative. Nature remains his main source of inspiration, and his favorite themes - the lake, vineyards and countryside - are transposed onto canvas with colors that are usually applied in successive layers with a spatula or knife, catching the light and giving depth and relief to the subject. The “Mafli touch” is thus easily recognizable.

✅ Authenticity Guaranteed — Certified by Swiss experts

✅ Trusted Provenance

✅ Secure and encrypted payments with our leading Swiss partner Worldline