German Art spans so many styles and eras that some people find the topic just to big to take on. Here are a five paintings that can open the door to this topic and help get you started.

1. Opening The Door
to German
Art
PROFESSOR CAROL

2. People frequently tell me they want to get to know art or music,
but they just don’t know the best place to start.
Well, there is no best place to start. The important thing is to
start. You’ll be glad you did.
So let’s open the door to German Art.

3. 5 Paintings to Start
Information about each painting follows.

4. Albrecht Dürer
Young Hare (1502)
In an era abounding with complex
Renaissance masterworks, Dürer’s gentle
rabbit astonishes us. It’s created using a
combination of watercolor and gauche,
which is similar to watercolor, but opaque.
The rabbit is painted with such detailed
accuracy, it could appear in a scientific
textbook. A simple rabbit was a surprising
subject for an artist famed for imposing
portraits, intricate altar paintings, and
detailed allegorical engravings. His best-known
work is also deceptively simple: a
pen-and-ink drawing of the praying hands.

5. Adam Elsheimer
The Flight into Egypt (1605)
Adam Elsheimer painted usually on copper
plates known as cabinet painting.
Choosing religious topics and themes from
Classical Antiquity, he filled his paintings
with action. This small oval painting,
though, is focused on the Holy Family
fleeing across a rocky, yet scenic hill. The
figures bend together, conveying their
urgency. Elsheimer painted another,
dramatic version of this theme in 1609, set
in the deep of night. Painters influenced by
Elsheimer include Rembrandt and Rubens.

6. Carl Spitzweg
The Poor Poet (1839)
Spitzweg’s tender, detailed portrayal of
everyday German life endears him to
viewers, even today. His paintings
harmonize with the fashionable
movement known as Biedermeier, a
restrained, elegant style that valued
stability and domesticity in the
aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars. His
paintings convey a sense of intimacy
and humor. He preferred gentle, even
eccentric subjects to the dramatic
Gothic themes popular with many of
his contemporaries.

7. Adolph von Menzel
Iron Rolling Mill (1875)
Menzel’s powerful, dark portrayal of
the new industrial era shows just how
dangerous life could be. In the bottom
right corner, removed slightly from the
heat, we see a child among the
workers devouring their meager
meals. What has been called a
“demonic drama” of man and machine
is broken only by dim light in the top
third of the painting. This painting
contrasts with his painting depicting
Frederick the Great playing the flute in
his gold-leafed Sanssouci palace.

8. Franz Marc
The Large Blue Horses (1911)
One of the most interesting of the
German Expressionists, Marc used a
basic theory of colors: blue for
masculinity and spirituality, yellow for
feminine joy, and red for violence. This
painting was one of many bold,
fantastic paintings of animals,
including The Red Horse and The
Yellow Cow. A founder of the avant-garde
group known as The Blue
Rider, Marc’s paintings reflected the
conflicting forces that led to World War
I. He served in that war, dying at the
Battle of Verdun.

9. The Circle of Scholars
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