Rural Idyll, 1935

About the Work

Volker Böhringer felt as close to Surrealism as he did to New Objectivity. At once precisely painted and enigmatic, he combined elements of cultural and industrial landscape. Yet, the “rural idyll” seems to be in danger: factory and railway criss-cross the landscape, thus forcing back nature. The girl with a billy goat, reminiscent of pastoral scenes, seems strangely lost. Even the wayside shrine towering over everything with an angel and the inscription “AVE MARIA” no longer fits in with the changed world. The painting reflects Böhringer’s ambivalent relationship with technology: he was fascinated by machines but also perceived industrialisation as a danger to the future of humanity.