Das grosse Welttheater
by Peter Weiss
Artist
Peter Weiss
(Tyskland, 1916 - 1982)
Alternate Title
- Den stora världsteatern
- The Great World Stage
Date1937
MediumOil on panel
DimensionsBildmått: 120 × 160 cm
Yttermått (Ram): 131,5 × 171,3 × 4,3 cm
Classification
Countries
Credit LineInköp 1969
Object NumberNM 6261
The artwork is not on display
About the artworkPeter Weiss takes on the contemporary era in an almost mediaeval manner, where the influences of the old masters Pieter Brueghel and Hieronymus Bosch are evident. There is a buzz of activity. Sorrow and happiness, violence and love – all of life passing by. The dramatic sky and the archaically dark style of painting suggest a looming threat. Is it a foreshadowing of the horrors of war that we are witnessing? The world as a stage on the brink of disaster? There appears to be no return, everything seems unmercifully heading towards chaos. Weiss painted The Great World Stage in spring 1937 while at the Academy of Art in Prague. The following year, German troops marched into Bohemia; in January 1939, his family fled to Sweden.
Selected exhibition history
Moderna Museet c/o Bildmuseet - Dada och surrealism (2003)
Bildmuseet, Umeå
Supersurrealismen (den 29 september 2012 - den 27 januari 2013)
Moderna Museet Malmö
Peter Weiss. Målningar, teckningar, collage, filmer, teater, litteratur, politik (1991)
Moderna Museet, Stockholm
10 historier - svensk konst 1910-1945 ur Moderna Museets samling (2007)
Moderna Museet, Stockholm
The Moderna Museet exhibition catalogues
Peter Weiss : målningar, teckningar, collage, film, teater, litteratur, politik : Moderna Museet 31 augusti - 13 oktober 199110 historier : svensk konst 1910-1945 ur Moderna Museets samling : [2/6 - 9/9 2007]Peter Weiss : målningar, teckningar, collage, filmer, teater, litteratur, politik : Moderna Museet
Bibliography
Phantastik: am Ende der Zeit, Erlangen 2000, s 51.