Konrad Vilhelm Mägi was an Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

n landscape painter

Landscape art

Landscape art is a term that covers the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, and especially art where the main subject is a wide view, with its elements arranged into a coherent composition. In other works landscape backgrounds for figures can still...

. He was one of the most colour-sensitive Estonian painters of the first decades of the 20th century, and Mägi's works on motives of the island of Saaremaa

Saaremaa

Saaremaa is the largest island in Estonia, measuring 2,673 km². The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago...

 are the first modern Estonian nature paintings.

Mägi received his elementary art education from the drawing courses of the German Artisans' Society of Tartu

Tartu

Tartu is the second largest city of Estonia. In contrast to Estonia's political and financial capital Tallinn, Tartu is often considered the intellectual and cultural hub, especially since it is home to Estonia's oldest and most renowned university. Situated 186 km southeast of Tallinn, the...

 (1899–1902.) At the same time, he was keenly engaged in theater, violin, and various sports.

Mägi continued his art education as an unattached student in Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

 (1903–1905), studying under Amandus Adamson

Amandus Adamson

Amandus Heinrich Adamson was an Estonian sculptor and painter.-Life:...

. In the autumn of 1907, he went to Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. There Mägi studied at a free academy. From 1908 to 1910, he lived in Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. In 1912, Mägi returned to Tartu, where he worked as an art teacher.

In Åland, he created delicate plant vignettes in the style of Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...

: Kahekesi (Two together; 1908; China ink drawing). In Paris, Mägi was influenced by Impressionism

Impressionism

Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...

 and Fauvism

Fauvism

Fauvism is the style of les Fauves , a short-lived and loose group of early twentieth-century Modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism...

, which had a significant impact on his colours: Lilleline väli majakesega (A flower field with a little house; 1908–1909), Norra maastik männiga (A Norwegian landscape with a pine; 1910).

From 1918, the influence of Expressionism

Expressionism

Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...

 is manifest, fostered by Mägi's extreme sensitivity and emotional response to the anxious times: Pühajärv (Lake Püha); 1918–1920), Otepää maastik (Landscape of Otepää

Otepää

Otepää is a town in Valga County, southern Estonia, it's the administrative centre of Otepää Parish. Town has a population of 2,189 . Otepää is a popular skiing resort, popularly known as the "winter capital" of Estonia...

; 1918–1920). Also influenced by Expressionism are his big figure compositions Pietà (1919), Kolgata (Golgatha; 1921).
Mägi's new artistic period, begun on a trip to Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, brought calmer tempers: Varemed Capril (Ruins in Capri; 1922–1923). Along with nature pictures, he painted flowers and portraits. Mägi's mostly beautiful female models express the Art Nouveau ideal of beauty: Holsti (1916). In his later portraits from the 1920s, a more serious temper is expressed: Madonna (1923–1924).