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Description
‘Frühling’ (‘Spring’)
Displayed at the GDK 1938 room 3 (GDK stickers at backside).
Displayed at the 1938-exhibition of the ‘Preussische Akademie der Künste’.
Signed 1933.
— displayed at the exhibition ‘Art in the Third Reich, Seduction and Distraction’, November 2023 – March 2024, Museum Arnhem, The Netherlands —
‘Frühling’ is part of the cyclus: ‘Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring’. Four paintings created in 1933 by Werner Peiner, all 120 x 70 cm, and all with the same frame (see biography below). ‘Frühling’ and ‘Sommer’ were displayed at the GDK 1938, and at the exhibition ‘Werner Peiner und Paraskewe Bereskine’ in the ‘Preussische Akademie der Künste’, Berlin, 1938.
The four works were in the possession of oil industrialist Hans Brochhaus and hung during the Third Reich in the Mendelsohn-haus in Berlin.
‘Frühling’ by Peiner, displayed at the GDK 1938 next to ‘Deutsche Erde’ (left on the photo).
Exhibition ‘Werner Peiner und Paraskewe Bereskine’, ‘Preussische Akademie der Künste’, Berlin, 1938
At this exhibition, several Werner Peiner-works in the possession of Hitler and Göring were displayed. Also ‘Sommer’ and ‘Spring’ were displayed.
Hitler and Göring looking at ‘Grosse Winterlandschaft’ at the exhibition ‘Werner Peiner und Paraskewe Bereskine’, Academy of Art in Berlin, March 4 ,1938 (‘Ausstellung in der Preussische Akademie der Künste in Berlin’). Photo: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
Hermann Göring opening the exhibition ‘Werner Peiner und Paraskewe Bereskine’, Academy of Art in Berlin, March 4 ,1938. Photo: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek.
Original 1938 GDK-sticker at backside.
1938 GDK-sticker at backsite. As owner is mentioned ‘Hans Brochhaus, Director, Berlin-Charlottenburg 9, Am Rupenhorn 6’.
Hans Brochhaus was a German oil industrialist in the first half of the 20th century. He was chairman of the oil corporation Elwerath and of the corporation Deutsche Erdöl-Raffinerie Deurag Hannover, and later board member of Kontinentale Öl AG, a German oil company during World War II. Kontinentale Öl was established in 1941 in Berlin with capital of 80 million Reichsmark and had exclusive rights to trade oil products and to acquire oil assets in German-occupied territories. The sole voting right in the company belonged to Borussia GmbH, a state holding company. However, the leading role in the consortium was held by Deutsche Bank and IG Farben.
Brochhausen stood in contact with Hermann Göring. In the files of the Pinakothek in München we found invoices for artworks given to Hermann Göring by Hans Brochhausen: https://www.pinakothek.de/sites/default/files/downloadable/2020-03/BWA_Ankauf_Lazarus.pdf
Left: ‘Frühling’ and ‘Sommer’ by Peiner, depicted in ‘Werner Peiner’, Kanter-Bücher, 1940.
Right: ‘Frühling’ by Peiner, depicted in ‘Das Bild’, 1934.
Left: ‘Frühling’ by Peiner, depicted in ‘Werner Peiner’, by Ernst Adolf Dreyer, 1936.
Right: ‘Frühling’ depicted in ‘Sehen und Erkennen. Eine Anleitung zu vergleichender Kunstbetrachtung’ by Paul Brandt, 1938.
‘Frühling’ by Peiner, depicted in the exhibition cataloge ‘Werner Peiner und Paraskewe Bereskine’ in the ‘Preussische Akademie der Künste’, Berlin, 1938.
‘Frühling’ and several other works by Peiner were printed in large formats by Franz Hanfstaengl in München. Below an artvertisement in ‘Werner Peiner’ by Ernst Adolf Dreyer, 1936.
| – condition | : II |
| – size | : 120 x 70 cm |
| – signed | : left, below ‘Peiner 1933’ |
| – type | : tempera on carton on board |
| – misc. I | : part of the cycles ‘Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring’ |
============================================ § ============================================
BIOGRAPHY: WERNER PEINER
‘Der Erdkugel’ (‘The Globe’ or ‘Le Globe Terrestre’) and ‘Der Thronhimmel’ (‘The Baldachin’ or ‘Le Baldaquin’) were two hube gobelins, designed in 1939/40 by Werner Peiner, destinated for the library of Carinhall, the country residence of Hermann Göring. Carinhall, the destination for many of Göring’s looted art treasures from across occupied Europe, was built on a large hunting estate northeast of Berlin.
The two tapestries that were planned measured each 10,2 meters by 7,1 meters; in total 72,2 square meter, 5 square meter more than the largest gobelin in the possession of the Louvre. The manufacturing took place in Paris (for several years) by the famous ‘Manufacture des Gobelins’ at the 42 avenue des Gobelins. Manufacture des Gobelins has, in its almost 350-year history, woven notable tapestries for kings of France -like Louis XIV- Napoleon and the three French Republics. It is now run by the French Ministery of Culture.
Because of their huge size, the production of the Werner Peiner gobelins took several years. Both gobelins were not yet finished when the Americans liberated Paris in 1944. Nowadays these unfinished gobelins are in the possession of the Louvre Museum in Paris. The complete gobelins would each have contained 3,5 kilogram of gold-threads.
Left: detail of the unfinished tapestry ‘Le Baldaquin’, in the possession of the Louvre Museum in Paris. https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/mnr/OAR00607.
Right: detail of the unfinished Gobelin tapestry ‘Le Globe Terrestre’ by Werner Peiner, in the possession of the Louvre Museum in Paris.
https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/mnr/OAR00606.
‘The best tapestries produced in France in the last 100 years’
Detail of the gobelin ‘Globe Terrestre’ (‘Erdkugel’) by Werner Peiner. Displayed in 2018 at the exhibition ‘Au fil du siècle, 1918-2018 – Chefs d’oeuvre de la tapisserie’, organized by the museum Galerie des Gobelins in Paris. The exhibition shows ‘the best tapestries produced in France in the last 100 years’: ‘…..designs created by the most prestigious artists of the 20th and 21st centuries…’
‘…..designs created by the most prestigious artists of the 20th and 21st centuries…’
All the displayed tapestries are in the possession of the French state. Planned size each 10 x 7 meters.
The gobelins were commissioned by the Nazi’s, paid by the Nazi’s (including the gold) and designed by a Nazi-painter.
Notice the allegorical figure ‘Gesetz’ (‘Law’) pointing her sword at Engeland.
Two other gobelins by Werner Peiner
The Louvre is also in the possession of two other tapestries by Werner Peiner: ‘Char de Chevaux’ (‘Der Geist’) and ‘Char de Taureaux’ (‘Die Fruchtbarkeit’). They can be find here:
https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/mnr/OAR00608
https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/mnr/MNOA0001
These tapestries were ordered by the German administration for their Foreign Office in Berlin, the official residence of Foreign Minister Von Ribbentrop. In a letter of 28th January 1941, Dr. Gerstner, a German diplomat based in Paris, confirmed the order for the two Peiner tapestries. The Manufacture Nationale des Gobelins in Paris started the production of the two gobelins at the end of 1941 and completed them on 7 July 1944; they were delivered to a representative of the German embassy on the 29th July 1944, and send to Berlin.
In 1945 these huge gobelins were stored in the Kunsthalle in Hamburg (in the British occupation zone); they were confiscated by the French and send in 1949 to Paris.The gobelins were commissioned by the Nazi’s, paid by the Nazi’s (including the gold) and designed by a prominent Nazi-painter.
For more information (page 55 onwards): https://www.centrepompidou.fr/media/document/16/20/162019290558fd1ac7d3a4cdbbd0dbf2/normal.pdf
‘Char de Chevaux‘ (‘Der Geist‘) by Peiner. Size: 3,6 meter by 5 meter.
‘Char de Chevaux’ and ‘Char de Taureaux‘ , both 3,6 meter by 5 meter, contain each 3,5 kilogram gold-threads.
‘Chariot with Bulls’ (‘Char de Taureax’) by Werner Peiner. Together with ‘Char the Chevaux’ displayed in 2018 at the exhibition ‘Au fil du siècle, 1918-2018 – Chefs d’oeuvre de la tapisserie’, organized by the museum Galerie des Gobelins in Paris. Both tapestries, containing each 3.5 kilograms of gold, were confiscated by the French Republic in 1945/49. The gobelins were commissioned by the Nazi’s, paid by the Nazi’s (including the gold) and designed by a Nazi-painter: ‘a real French Masterpiece of the 20th century’.
Left: the signature of Werner Peiner; on top of that the coat of arms of Hermann Göring, which was also the logo of the Hermann Göring Meisterschule für Malerei in Kronenburg, Eifel.
Right: the logo of Manufacture des Gobelin National, used in 1944.
‘…..designs created by the most prestigious artists of the 20th and 21st centuries…’
‘Chariot with Bulls’ and ‘Erdkugel’ by Peiner were again displayed from December 2019 – March 2020 at the exhibition ‘Die Faden der Moderne’ in the Kunsthalle München. The museum presented the exhibition as follows: ‘For the first time in Germany, the Kunsthalle München is presenting tapestries that were produced in the Gobelins Manufactory in Paris from designs created by the most prestigious artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, including Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Le Corbusier, Joan Miró and Louise Bourgeois. With innumerable large-scale wall hangings that span the period from the end of World War I to the present day’.
The Shell House, built in 1931 in Hamburg
Mosaic works designed by Werner Peiner in the hall of the Shell House in Hamburg (Verwaltungsgebäude der Rhenania Ossag, predecessor of Shell AH in Hamburg). Depicted in ‘Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration‘, 1931, in ‘Werner Peiner’, by Ernst Adolf Dreyer, 1936, and in ‘Deutsches Mosaik’ by Josef Ludwig Fischer, 1939.
The Shell House, built in 1930/31 in Berlin
Glass Windows designed by Werner Peiner in the hall of the Shell House in Berlin. Depicted in ‘Werner Peiner’ by Ernst Adolf Dreyer, 1936.
Ministery of Finance (Schatzamt) in Berlin, 1930
Glass Windows designed by Werner Peiner in the Ministery of Finance in Berlin 1930. Located in the entrance hall. Depicted in ‘Werner Peiner’ by Ernst Adolf Dreyer, 1936.
Left: Werner Peiner, postcard, ‘Grosse Herbstlandschaft’ (‘Large Fall Landscape’). Created 1931. GDK 1939, room 3. Depicted in ‘Werner Peiner’, by Ernst Adolf Dreyer, 1936.
Right: Werner Peiner, postcard, ‘Steppenmorgen’ (‘Morning in the african savannah’). Created in 1935. GDK 1938, room 3. Bought by Hermann Göring.
Werner Peiner. ‘Die Schacht im Teutoburger Walde’.** GDK 1942, room 2; depicted in the exhibition catalogue.
Goebbels giving a speech at the opening of the GDK, July 1940. At the background, first floor, room 29 with in the middle ‘Bauerngrazie’ by Martin-Amorbach, flanked by 6 gobelin designs by Werner Peiner.
‘Deutsche Erde’ or ‘German Soil’ or ‘Terra tedesca’ (lost)
Werner Peiner, postcard*, ‘Deutsche Erde’ (‘German Soil’ or ‘Terra tedesca’), 1933. GDK 1938, room 3. The painting was also displayed at the XIX Venice Biennale, 1934, and at the ‘1938 Berliner Ausstellung in der Preussischen Akademie der Künste’.
On the horizon we can still see the Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom). This strong propaganda work depicts a farmer who believes in the future of Germany -and its uprising- and who, in spite of the threatening thunder, keeps on ploughing (it is said that this was the explanation from the artist himself). In 1933 ‘Deutsche Erde’ was given to the Honorary Citizen Adolf Hitler by the City of Mechernich. Hitler, who was very enthusiastic about this painting by Peiner, ordered that it be hung in the New Chancellery. The painting has been lost.
Hitler visiting the Venice Biennale in 1934.
‘Deutsche Erde’, ‘Frühling’ and several other works by Peiner were printed in large formats by Franz Hanfstaengl in München. Below an artvertisement in ‘Werner Peiner’ by Ernst Adolf Dreyer, 1936.
The cyclus ‘Sommer, Herbst, Winter, Frühling’, 1933
The works ‘Sommer’ and ‘Frühling’, both signed 1933, were displayed at the GDK 1938 room 3, and at the exhibition ‘Werner Peiner und Paraskewe Bereskine’ in the ‘Preussische Akademie der Künste’, Berlin, 1938.
All four works have the same frame and measure 120 x 70 cm each.
The four works were in the possession of oil industrialist Hans Brochhaus and hung during the Third Reich in the Mendelsohn-haus in Berlin.
‘Sommer’ (‘Summer’). Depicted in Westermann Monatshefte, 1935, in ‘Werner Peiner’, by Ernst Adolf Dreyer, 1936, in the exhibition cataloge ‘Werner Peiner und Paraskewe Bereskine’ in the ‘Preussische Akademie der Künste’, Berlin, 1938, and in ‘Werner Peiner’, Kanter-Bücher, 1940. 
‘Herbst’ (‘Fall’). Counterpart to ‘Deutsche Erde’ (almost a mirror image).
‘Winter’ (‘Winter’). The ‘Deutsche Erde’ in the winter.
‘Frühling’. Depicted in ‘Das Bild’, 1935, in ‘Werner Peiner’, by Ernst Adolf Dreyer, 1936, and in ‘Werner Peiner’, Kanter-Bücher, 1940. Also depicted in the exhibition cataloge ‘Werner Peiner und Paraskewe Bereskine’ in the ‘Preussische Akademie der Künste’, Berlin, 1938. 
Hitler and Göring looking at ‘Grosse Winterlandschaft’ at the exhibition ‘Werner Peiner und Paraskewe Bereskine’, Academy of Art in Berlin, March 4 ,1938 (‘Ausstellung in der Preussische Akademie der Künste in Berlin’). Photo: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
Werner Peiner, ‘Grosse Winterlandschaft’, created 1932. Later also displayed at the GDK 1937, room 18. Depicted in the catalog of the exhibition ‘Werner Peiner und Paraskewe Bereskine’, Academy of Art in Berlin, March 4 ,1938, and in ‘Werner Peiner’, by Ernst Adolf Dreyer, 1936.
Left: Hermann Göring opening the exhibition ‘Werner Peiner und Paraskewe Bereskine’, Academy of Art in Berlin, March 4 ,1938. Photo: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek.
Right: Hermann and Emmy Goering at the 1938-exhibition, looking at Peiners tryptich. Depicted in ‘Die Dame’, June, 1938.
Werner Peiner, ‘Das schwarze Paradies’ (‘Black Paradise’), GDK 1938, room 3. This tryptichon was bought by Adolf Hitler and hung in the New Chancelery. The painting is lost since WWII. **
Left: Werner Peiner, ‘Mädchen auf dem Feld’ (‘Girl at the Fields’). Displayed at the exhibition ‘Werner Peiner und Paraskewe Bereskine’, Academy of Art in Berlin, March 4 ,1938. Depicted in ‘Die Weltkunst’, 15 February 1938.
Right: Werner Peiner, ‘Die Obsternte’ (‘Fruit Harvest’). Displayed in the ‘Galerie Abels’, Köln, in 1932. Depicted in ‘Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration’, 1932.
Left: Werner Peiner, ‘Junges Mädchen‘ (‘Young Girl‘), 1931. Displayed at the GDK 1938 room 3. Size 82 x 32 cm. Sold by a German auction house in 2022. Previous in the possession of Walter Kruspig.
Right: Werner Peiner, ‘Mädchen mit Rechen’ (‘Girl with Rake’), 1930. Depicted in ‘Werner Peiner’, by Ernst Adolf Dreyer, 1936.
L’Aratore’
Left: Werner Peiner, ‘L’Aratore’ (‘Plowman’, or ‘Feldarbeit’). Created in 1931. Displayed at the exhibition ‘Esposizione d’Arte Duesseldorf’, Florance, 1943; depicted in the exhibition catalogue. Also displayed in 1938 at the exhibition ‘Deutscher Bauer – Deutsches Land’ in Berlin (‘Ausstellung unter der Schirmherrschaft von Reichsbauernführer Reichsminister R. Walther Darré und Reichsleiter Alfred Rosenberg’); depicted in the exhibition catalog (‘Leigabe Kunstsammlungen der Stadt Düsseldorf’). Also depicted in ‘Die Völkische Kunst’, February 1935; in ‘Werner Peiner’, by Ernst Adolf Dreyer, 1936; in ‘Die neue deutsche Malerei’, Deutscher Verlag’, 1941; and in ‘Nationalsozialistische Monatshefte’, 1938, nr. 95.
Right: ‘Feldarbeit’, displayed in the ‘Galerei Abels’, Köln, 1932. Depicted in ‘Die Weltkunst, 24 January 1932. Bought by the ‘Düsseldorfer Kunstmuseum’.
‘Feldarbeit’, 1931, size 70 x 55 cm. Oil on wood. In the possession of the Kunstpalast Düsseldorf.
Left: Werner Peiner, ‘Eggender Bauer’ (‘Plowing farmers’), 1932. Depicted in ‘Die Völkische Kunst’, February 1935, in ‘Werner Peiner’, by Ernst Adolf Dreyer, 1936, and in ‘Werner Peiner, Kanter-Bücher, 1940.
Right: three Harvest-paintings by Peiner, located in the ‘Haus der Flieger’, Berlin. Depicted in ‘Werner Peiner, Kanter-Bücher, 1940.
Werner Peiner, ‘Herbstliche Erde‘ (‘Autumn Earth‘), depicted in ‘Die Kunstkammer‘, October 1935.
Left: Werner Peiner, ‘Mädchenakt‘ (‘Girl-nude‘). Created in 1931. GDK 1938 room 3. Size 71 x 51cm. Sold in 2015 by a German auction house. Depicted in ‘Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration’, 1932, and in ‘Werner Peiner’, by Ernst Adolf Dreyer, 1936.
Right: Werner Peiner, ‘Die Badende‘ (´Bathing´). Created 1931, GDK 1938 room 3. Displayed at the ‘Ausstellung unter der Schirmherrschaft des Ministerpräsidenten Generaloberst Göring in der Pr. Akademie der Kunste‘, Berlin 1938. Depicted in ‘Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration’, 1932, and in ‘Werner Peiner’, by Ernst Adolf Dreyer, 1936.
Werner Peiner, ‘Junges Mädchen’ (‘Young Girl’), depicted in ‘Westermanns Monatshefte’, 1930/31.
Left: Werner Peiner, ‘Allgäuer Kuh’ (‘Allgäu Cow’), depicted in ‘Westermanns Monatshefte’, 1930/31.
Right: Werner Peiner, ‘Prozession in Salzburg’ (‘Procession in Salzburg’), depicted in ‘Westermanns Monatshefte’, 1930/31.
Left: Werner Peiner, ‘Stuhl mit Flasche‘ (‘Chair with Bottle‘). Created in 1928. Size 62 x 50 cm. Sold by a German auction house in 2011.
Right: ‘Stuhl mit Flasche’, displayed in the ‘Galerie Abels’, Köln, in 1932/33. Depicted in ‘Die Weltkunst’, 8 January 1933. Also depicted in ‘Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration’, 1929, in colour in ‘Westermanns Monatshefte’, 1930/31, and in ‘Werner Peiner’, by Ernst Adolf Dreyer, 1936.
Werner Peiner, ‘Die Verdammten, -Adam und Eva’ (‘The Condemned, -Adam and Eve’). Created 1922, size 80 x 60 cm. At the backside two stickers from ‘Kunstsalon Herm. Abels in Köln’ and ‘Galerie Utermann in Dortmund, 1973’. Sold by a German auction house in 2018.
Werner Peiner, ‘Teppich mit den Drei Lebensaltern’ (‘Gobelin with three Life Phases’), 1930. Location Haus Dr. Kruspig, Hamburg’. Depicted in the magazine ‘Die Dame’, August 1932, and in ‘Werner Peiner’, by Ernst Adolf Dreyer, 1936.
Blood and Soil
Blood and Soil (‘Blut und Boden’) emphasised the relationship between true Aryans and a rural life. Hitler believed that true Germans ‘came from the soil’, that they had a family background based on farming and life in the countryside. He wanted all Germans to identify themselves with the glorious history of their descendants who worked the land. The blood and soil ideology honoured strong peasant farmers and other rural workers above people who worked in cities. There was an element of romanticism associated with this ideology as it failed to take into account the importance of industry in the rise of Imperial Germany in the late 19th and early 20th century. However, Hitler associated industry with socialism, communism and trade unions – even if he was to court the support (and money) of the industrialists in later years. Blood and soil ideology often went hand in hand with extreme nationalism and racism. Nazis advocated the idea of a ‘master race’ to free people from illness and make them full of virtue and good thoughts. The decline of rural communities was blamed on the Jews; schools taught that the countryside had been bought up by Jewish families who turned rural families off the land, forcing them to go to the cities to find work. Blut und Boden was also used to rationalise ‘lebensraum’ as the Nazi leaders believed that those who lived in Eastern Europe and western USSR had no idea on how to work the land properly and only true Aryans would know how to do this and make the area a ‘bread basket’. Blood and Soil painters depicted peaceful country life and uncomplicated, decent people who were clean and earthy. Left out was any sign of the increased mechanisation of agriculture. The famer was mostly depicted in a primitive, earthbound state, sowing, ploughing and mowing the grass with a scythe.
Hermann Göring Collection
Hermann Görings entire art collection comprised some 4,263 paintings, sculptures and tapestries. He planned to display them in the ‘Norddeutsche Galerie’, an art gallery which should be founded after the war. The Norddeutsche Gallery was to be erected as an annex to Karinhall in the big forest of the Schorfheide, near Berlin. According to the German Historical Museum, 8 paintings and 12 huge gobelins by Werner Peiner were part of the collection. Werner Peiner gave six paintings as a present to Hermann Göring, the last one in 1944. Below the Peiner works in the Goring Collection:
– ‘Mädchen mit Pfau’, GDK 1938, room 3. Given as a present by Peiner in 1938;
– ‘Winterlandschaft’. Given as a present by Peiner in 1939;
– ‘Ostafrikansiche Steppe’, GDK 1938, room 3. Given as a present by Peiner in 1939;
– ‘Köln im Schnee’. Given as a present by the banker baron Eduard Freiherr von der Heydt in 1939;
– ‘Europa und den Stier’, oil on wood, 151 x 170 cm. Bought from the artist in 1937;
– ‘Thor’, oil on wood, 170 x 83 cm. Given as a present by Peiner 1943;
– ‘Freya’, oil on wood, 170 x 83 cm. Given as a present by Peiner in 1943;
– ‘Sommerlandschaft in der Eifel’. Given as a present by Peiner in 1943;
– ‘Falkenjagd’: 4 gobelins depicting Heinrich I, Friedrich II and Arabic hunting-sceneries. Each 466 x 275 cm;
– ‘Weibliche Tugenden’: 4 gobelins depicting ‘Rasse’, ‘Grazie’, ‘Frohsinn’ and ’Stolz’. Each 362 x 259 cm;
– ‘Weibliche Tugenden’: 4 gobelins depicting ‘Wurde’, ‘Güte’, ‘Sanftmut’ and ‘Klugheit’. Each 362 x 259 cm.
‘Freya’, left part of ‘Judgement of Paris’. Size: 170 x 83 cm. Given by Peiner at 12 January 1943 as a present to Göring. Part of the Hermann Goring Collection.
‘Villagio dell ‘Eifel sotto la neve’
Werner Peiner, ‘Eifeldorf im Schnee’ (‘Village in the Eifel in Snow’ or ‘Villagio dell’ Eifel sotto la neve’), 1933. Displayed at the Venice Biennale 1934.
Left: ‘Eifeldorf im Schnee‘. Sold by an American auction house in 2009. Size 69 x 48 cm. Oil on board.
Right: ‘Eifeldorf im Schnee’, depicted in the official exhibition catalogue of the 1934-Venice Biennale. Also depicted in ‘Das Bild‘, September 1935, as well as in ‘Das bäuerliche Jahr, Ein Buch vom Bauerntum in Bildern deutscher Maler’, 1939.
Werner Peiner, ‘Grosse Übersicht über das hügliche Land‘ (‘Great View on the Hills‘). Depicted in ‘Das Bild‘, September 1935.
Left: Werner Peiner, ‘Sonnenaufgang‘ (‘Sunrise’). Created in 1932. Displayed at the ‘Ausstellung unter der Schirmherrschaft des Ministerpräsidenten Generaloberst Göring in der Pr. Akademie der Kunste‘, Berlin, 1938. Depicted in ‘Werner Peiner’, by Ernst Adolf Dreyer, 1936.
Right: Werner Peiner, ‘Frühmorgen in der Eifel‘ (‘Eary Morning in the Eifel Mountains‘), 1932. Displayed in the permanent exhibition of ‘Kunstmuseum Moritzburg’, Halle. Photo: 2017.
Werner Peiner, ‘Europa und der Stier’ (‘Europe and the Bull’), created 1937. Oil on wood, size 151 x 170 cm. Bought by Hermann Göring who hung it at the head of his bed in Carinnhall. Part of the Hermann Göring collection. In the possession of the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlung.
Left: ‘Europa und der Stier’ by Peiner, initially located on the ceiling of the canopy bed of Göring in Carinnhall.
Right: ‘Europa und der Stier’, later placed at the headboard of the bed.
‘Europa und der Stier’ displayed in 1977 at the Exhibition ‘Deutschland 1930-1939: Verbot, Anpassung, Exil’ in Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland. Left at the photo: Ivo Saliger, ‘Urteil des Paris’ (‘Judgement of Paris’), GDK 1939, room 8: Der Archivar – Nazi-Kunst – ist das Kunst oder muss das weg? – Kultur – SRF
Werner Peiner, ‘Der Bulle’ (‘The Bull’), 1923. Depicted in ‘Werner Peiner’, by Ernst Adolf Dreyer, 1936.
Left: Werner Peiner, ‘Lechtaler Bäuerin’ (‘Farmer from the Lechtal’), 1927. Depicted in ‘Werner Peiner’, by Ernst Adolf Dreyer, 1936.
Right: ‘Lechtaler Bäuerin’ by Peiner, depicted on the cover of ‘Jugend’, 1928.
Left: Werner Peiner, ‘Wandernde’ (‘Walking’), 1925. Depicted in ‘Werner Peiner’, by Ernst Adolf Dreyer, 1936.
Right: ‘Wandernde’ by Peiner, likely depicted in ‘Velhagen & Klasings Monatshefte’. Issue unknown. The text below the picture reads: ‘Köln, Kunstausstellung Abels’.
Werner Peiner, ‘Mädchen mit Pfau’ (‘Girl with Peacock’). Depicted in ‘Jugend’, 1938.
Left: Werner Peiner, ‘Portrait of Martha Quandt‘. Created in 1926. Size 61 x 55 cm. Offered by a German art gallery in 2017.
Right: Werner Peiner, ‘Bildnis Frau Kruspig‘ (‘Portrait of Mrs. Kruspig’, wife of oil industrialist Walter Kruspig ). Created in 1929. Size 74 x 43 cm. Sold by a German auction house in 2007. Depicted in ‘Werner Peiner’, by Ernst Adolf Dreyer, 1936.
Werner Peiner, Gobelin in the Parkhotel Haus Rechen Bochum’. Depicted in ‘Werner Peiner’, by Ernst Adolf Dreyer, 1936.
Left: Werner Peiner, ‘Moderne Europa’ (‘Modern Europe’), 1926. Size 150 x 75 cm. Depicted in ‘Malerei des Nationalsozialismus, der Maler Werner Peiner’, 1995.
Right: ‘Moderne Europa’ by Peiner, depicted on the cover of ‘Jugend’, 1928.
Werner Peiner
One of the most important artists during the Third Reich
Werner Peiner (1897–1984) was a German painter who was very successful during the National Socialists’ regime. At the start of World War I Peiner voluntarily joined the army. He was promoted to Lieutenant and served at the Western front. After World War I he studied painting at the Düsseldorfer Kunstakademie. In the 1920s he painted mostly in the style of the Neue Sachlichkeit/ Magic Realisme (Magisch Realismus). In 1933 he became Professor Monumentmalerie at the Düsseldorfer Akademie. His art was especially appreciated by Hermann Göring: a nude by Peiner (‘Europa und der Stier’ or ‘Europe and the Bull’, created in 1937), hung at the head of Görings bed. From 1931 to 1934 Peiner created his well known Blut und Boden paintings, works depicting farmers ploughing German soil surrounded by hilly-landscapes and horses and cows. During that time he created the famous ‘Deutsche Erde’ (GDK 1938 room 3) which was in 1933 given to the ‘Honorary Citizen Adolf Hitler’ by the City of Mechernich. Hitler, who was very enthusiastic about this painting by Peiner, ordered that it be hung in the New Chancellery. The painting has been lost.
In 1935/1936 Peiner made a study trip to Tanganjika, Kenya, Uganda and the Congo. Several of his paintings from this time hung later in the Great German Art Exhibitions. Besides lions, elephants and rhinoceros he also painted the Massai, a tribe that was depicted – according to the German racial ideas – as a strong people, the African variant of the Übermensch. Famous works of that time include ‘Sonnenaufgang über dem ostafrikanischen Graben’ (GDK 1938 room 3), ‘Löwen an der Tränke’ and the tryptich ‘Das Schwarze Paradies’ (GDK 1938 room 3).
From 1936 until the end of World War II Werner Peiner was the head of the Hermann-Göring-Meisterschule für Malerei in Kronenburg. Peiner became a member of the NSDAP in 1937. In the same year he became a member of the Preußischen Akademie der Künste. In 1938 his work ‘Feldarbeit’ (in the possession at that time of the Kunstsammlungen der Stadt Düsseldorf) was displayed at the exhibition ‘Deutscher Bauer – Deutsches Land’ in Berlin (‘Ausstellung unter der Schirmherrschaft von Reichsbauernführer Reichsminister R. Walther Darré und Reichsleiter Alfred Rosenberg’).
From 1937 to 1944 he made 19 designs for huge Gobelin tapestries (10 meters by 5.4 meters), which were meant to be placed in the marble gallery of the Neu Kanzlei (146 meters long). Several of these designs were published in the magazine Kunst im Deutschen Reich in 1940 (‘Die Schlacht im Teutoburger Walde’, ‘Die Belagerung der Mariënburg’, ‘Die Schlacht bei Leipzig’, etc). In 1944 Adolf Hitler included him in the Sonderliste der Gottbegnadeten-Liste.
Peiner was represented in the Great German Art Exhibitions with 33 works. In 1938 the GDK mounted a special display of paintings by Werner Peiner: the Sonderschau. The Sonderschau was a special exhibition that garthered works of a highly valued single artist -one per year- in one room.
‘Stuhl mit Flasche’ (‘Sedia e bottiglia’ or ‘Chear with Bottle’), 1928, by Peiner was displayed at the XXI Venice Biennale 1938. ‘Deutsche Erde’ (‘Terra tedesca’) and ‘Eifeldorf im Schnee’ (‘Villagio dell’Eifel sotto la neve’ or ‘Village in the Eifel in snow’) were earlier displayed at the XIX Venice Biennale, 1934.
Eight paintings and twelve huge gobelins by Werner Peiner were part of the Herman Göring Collection and destinated to be displayed in the ‘Norddeutsche Galerie’. Six of the paintings were given by Peiner as a present to Hermann Göring, the last one in 1944.
After the war Peiner was detained for a period and his works were confiscated. From 1948 until his death he lived in Burg Haus Vorst in Leichlingen/Rheinland. In the after war period he created Gobelin Tapestries for the Gerlin-Konzern and for the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie.
Some of his designs for the Neu Kanzlei Gobelin Tapestries hang in Rheinischen Landesmuseum Bonn (2013). ‘Europa und der Stier’ is in the possession of the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlung; it was displayed in 1977 at the Exhibition ‘Deutschland 1930-1939: Verbot, Anpassung, Exil’ in Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland. In 2012 the exibition ‘Werner Peiner, Verführer oder Verführter, Kunst im Nationalsozialismus‘, took place in Gmünd.
The Deutsches Historisches Museum holds ‘Steppenmorgen’ (GDK 1938 room 3) and ‘Winterlandschaft’. ‘Frühmorgen in der Eifel‘ (‘Eary Morning in the Eifel Mountains‘), 1932 is displayed in the permanent exhibition of ‘Kunstmuseum Moritzburg’, Halle.
The Louvre museum holds two gobelin tapestries by Werner Peiner, meant for Görings Carinnhall: ‘Le Baldaquin’ (‘Thronhimmel’) and ‘Globe Terrestre’ (‘Erdkugel’). The Louvre also holds the Peiner gobelin tapestries ‘Char de Chevaux’ (‘Der Geist’) and ‘Char de Taureax’ (‘Die Fruchtbarkeit’). The last two tapestries, produced in Germany and meant for the official residence of Foreign Minister Von Ribbentrop in Berlin, were confiscated in 1945/49 in Germany by the France.
In 2018 two gobelins by Werner Peiner were displayed at the exhibition ‘Au fil du siècle, 1918-2018 – Chefs d’oeuvre de la tapisserie’, in the French state-owned museum Galerie des Gobelins in Paris. Displayed were ‘the best tapestries produced in France in the last 100 years’. Besides the ‘Globe Terrestre’ (‘Erdkugel’), also the monumental gobelin ‘Char de Taureax’ (‘Chariot with Bulls’) by Peiner -containing 3.5 kilograms of gold, was displayed.
The original design of the gobelin ‘Der Thronhimmel’ by Peiner, was displayed at the exhibition ‘Nazi Design’, Design Museum Den Bosch, The Netherlands, 8 September 2019 – 1 March 2020. This world-wide highly publicized exhibition attracted over 130.000 visitors in six months. The exhibition was covered on the front page of the New York Times and Bild, and i.a. in the Guardian, Le Monde, Le Figaro, Paris Match, Spiegel, Welt, Tagesspiegel, El Pais and all Dutch newspapers. On television the exposition was covered i.a. by the ARD, ZDF, DW News, Aljazeera, AFP News Agency, SBS World News, and all mayor television chanels in The Netherlands. Because of the enormous popularity of the exhibition, the museum extended opening hours, opened its doors also on Mondays, and finally it extended the exhibition by 6 weeks.
* As also stated in our General Terms and Conditions, German Art Gallery offers the depicted postcards for sale. Prices on request.
** Pictures used with permission from the heirs of Werner Peiner.