It was Gabriele Münter's summer of painting par excellence: in mid-1908 she came to Murnau for the first time. The stay here triggered an enormous creative phase for her. She created numerous landscape paintings. Among them was the first oil study for the motif "Yellow House with Apple Tree". In this experimental series, Münter captured her motif in a naturalistic way with generous brushstrokes. The picture shown here from 1910 marks the result of the series and at the same time the high point of Münter's painterly development: the artist dispenses with every detail in the depiction. The colored areas are clearly defined, surrounded by black outlines. Münter adopted this from regional reverse glass painting, among other things. The colors are muted and reduced to a few colors with a high contrast effect. The cube-shaped house takes on the yellow of the former neighboring house. The accompanying buildings that were still there at the time, however, have completely disappeared from the picture. All that remains are the two trees, the fork in the road and the house. The finger-shaped tree on the left of the picture is shown in an expressively simplified manner. The lush fruits of the apple tree in front of the house glow red in the sun. And in the violet reflections on the way to the house and in its dark yellow facade, late summer seems to glow. The detached house in the picture has been preserved to this day. It stands on the “Hagener Leite” next to the so-called “Lindenburg”, north of Murnau Castle. Münter painted the motif several times - always a little differently. This, repetition and variation, is an essential element of her work. In this way, Münter develops motifs that she has already painted. Thus, the “Yellow House with Apple Tree” is the inspiration for her artistic development.