‘Uncertain Times. Interwar Germany’ - new exhibition exaimes Weimar Republic turbulence

To understand how the Second World War happened, one has to consider the Weimar Republic, the German state that existed in the interwar years. A new exhibition in the CaixaForum in Barcelona transports visitors to that fervent period of history, explaining the cultural and intellectual boom of the time, and how it foreshadowed one of the darkest periods of human history. 

‘Uncertain Times. Interwar Germany’ starts with a brief timeline of what happened in Germany from 1918, defeated and humiliated after World War One, all the way up to Hitler’s rise to power in 1933, before then moving on to seek an understanding of the political turbulence of the time through the various artistic and social movements that defined the Weimar Republic. 

The exhibition stands out for its multifaceted perspective appealing to the different sensors, with paintings, films, sculptures, original artefacts like pamphlets and books, as well as music all combining to transport the visitor to the heady decades of rapid change. In total, there are nearly 90 original pieces from the period on display, from the likes of Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Marianne Brandt, Jeanne Mammen, and the Bauhaus Design School. 

After the global political earthquake that was the First World War, which put an end to many of the world’s great empires such as the German, the Austro-Hungarian, the Ottoman, and the Russian, the Weimar Republic emerged as a renewed approach to organize society, based in ideas of democracy, reason, and equality, in which women were given the right to vote for the first time.

Despite its short duration of only 14 years and it being succeeded by Hitler’s Nazis, the burst of creativity seen in the interwar period left a longstanding legacy as a symbol of change towards a new era. 

At the same time, art also started to become politicised, with many artists positioning themselves on the left and in favour of democracy, showing a utopian world in their work. 

After World War One, the disfigured bodies of the wounded were commonly seen on the streets, as a weakened Germany with huge debts couldn’t take care of its veterans. This horror was also represented in the art of the time. 

Politics became a phenomenon of the masses, with different movements regularly marching for their aims and political engagement more and more commonplace. Philosophical questions about the masses and the individual were pondered in a hugely unstable country that seemed capable of moving in any direction. 

In a society rebuilding itself, writing new rules of engagement, at times it felt like there were no limits to the possibilities that the Weimar Republic could provide. There were new gender roles for women, now able to work, vote, and liberated sexually, while science also took great leaps forward, led in the country by Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein, who shook the foundations of deterministic science.

It was a time when the most vanguard of artistic trends came to the fore, with profound evolution in art techniques and concepts. Expressionism, Dadaism, constructivism, and the new objectivity were all born from this time and place, but the movement that perhaps best captures the spirit of the Weimar Republic is the Bauhaus movement. Various examples of paintings, lithographs, jewelry, and design –all trademark features of the Bauhaus school of art and architecture,– are all on display in the CaixaForum exhibition. 

After the Wall Street Crash of 1929, which had repercussions all over the world, millions in the Weimar Republic were immediately sunk into poverty, while many others profited from the turbulence and lived opulently. This stark contrast also made its way into the art of the time, and sowed the seed of deep social discontent. 

Soon afterwards, Hitler would be named chancellor. His supporters destroyed many artworks they considered anti-German in a demonstration of control over art and culture, with the objective of aligning this world with the Nazi ideology, all part of a broader movement aimed at synchronization, the process of violently Nazifying all of Germany. 

Understanding history is the best way to try to understand the present, and the Weimar Republic can act as a bridge in time. The CaixaForum exhibition finishes with some considerations and questions for the visitor about the uncertainty facing the world today, which they answer with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

‘Uncertain Times. Interwar Germany’ is open now in CaixaForum Barcelona until July 20.