BERLIN BRUSHES: GUSTAV WUNDERWALD
Müllerstraße corner Seestraße in Berlin-Wedding in 1927. Never a fine neighbourhood. Rather, a place most upper-class Berliners would not have even heard of. But in this painting by Gustav Wunderwald almost magical, fairy-tale like, with the sign for the ice-cream parlour glowing in warm yellow hues.
The painting has something theatrical, stage-like - and no wonder. Gustav Wunderwald, Berlin painter from Düsseldorf (like so many brilliant Berliners he was not born in the city), was a theatre stage designer by profession. He spent many years creating artworks for stage performances in many European cities as well as designing shop window displays for private clients.
He loved painting poorer, working-class areas of Berlin. „The bleakest things have always caught my eye, things I cannot digest; Moabit and Wedding fascinate me the most, both plain and dreary in an interesting way.“ Wunderwald spent a lot of time moving around both boroughs but also visiting Prenzlauer Berg, Mitte or Lichtenberg. All falling into the same category.
The street corner in Wedding he painted that day has changed almost beyond recognition - „almost“ as something remains. The house on whose side a large painted ad encourages potential customers to part with their money, still does the same job: this time, however, for a German chemist‘s chain. Their shop in the house next door.
If Gustav Wunderwald, who died in June 1945 in Berlin of water poisoning, were here today, he surely would have added a touch of magic to this plain and dreary sight.
That is Berlin‘s fate: its legend is always more enticing than its everyday face.
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