Eugene Brands was a Dutch artist known for his abstract paintings. He was an early member of CoBrA, an avant-garde art movement in Europe; CoBrA was active from 1948 to 1951, and the initials stand for Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam, the home cities of the movement. In 1949 Brands left the movement to branch out on his own, and he became interested in primitive cultures, especially in the music, ethnography and magical aspects of these cultures. In the 1950’s he became interested in children’s drawings, and in the 60’s he returned to abstract figuration, with two major themes: eternal motion and the immensity of the cosmos. This is the sixth gouache by Brands in our auction. It is entitled “Sizzling Sun” (“nyrende zon”) on the verso. It is matted and signed with his name in the lower left part of the image, it was done in 1980, and it’s dated on the verso. It reads “6347 nyrende zon (Gouache) 10.4.80” and is signed “Brands” in large cursive letters on the verso as well. The overall size is 30 in. x 31 1/8 in. wide and the sight size is 20 1/8 in. x 21 3/8 in. wide.