Fehrbellinerplatz, Berlin by Martin Bloch

Art work details

Original Title :

Fehrbellinerplatz, Berlin

Year of production :

1933

Artist:

Martin Bloch

Medium :

Oil painting

Materials:

Oil paint, Canvas

Dimensions :

height: 76 cms; width: 96 cms

Credit Line :

Purchased from Campbell and Franks Ltd with MGC/V&A Purchase Grant Fund assistance

Copyright :

© Martin Bloch Trust

Tags:

Weimar Republic, Bloch, Berlin, Architecture

One of five Berlin street scenes Bloch painted before he left Germany in 1934. The smoke rising from the crematorium appears prominent and threatening, framed as it is by the network of wires and poles of the almost deserted square. (Bloch nicknamed the picture ‘the gallows’).

Indicators of human life are the tram driver and a half-hidden figure by the petrol kiosk. The leaning administration block on the right and the pole on the left create a feeling of disjointed reality as does the disturbing colour palette, yellow, violet, green and purple.