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n 1899 peter behrens joined the darmstadt artists’ colony on the Mathildenhohe. The colony was the creation of grand duke ernst-

ludwig hesse, whose family still retained some claim to sovereignty in Hesse, of which Darmstadt was the capital.

ernst-ludwig’s plan was to create a village

exclusively of artists, whose every house, and everything in them, would be beautiful. The artists, including behrens, were chosen and invited by ernst-ludwig. The colony formally opened in 1901 with an exhibition called a document of german art. The subject of the exhibition was the village itself and the eight houses furnished by the resident artists. The houses were open to the public. All the houses but one 

were the work of joseph maria olbrich, the Viennese architect. The eighth was designed by peter behrens. It was his first building.

Hall in the German section at the international exhibition

of modern decorative art in Turin, 1902. © Getty Images

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mmediately after the 1901 exhibition, behrens sold his magnificent home on the Mathildehohe and began teaching at the dusseldorf school 

of applied arts (kunstgewerbeschule). He was its director in 1903–1907 and significantly changed the method of instruction, devoting more time to studio work and to the study of materials and technologies.

 

 

Crematorium in Hagen-Delstern, Germany,

designed by peter behrens, built in 1908

 

The reforms that he brought to the school in

Dusseldorf reflected the evolution of his own views of applied art. Before Dusseldorf, his esthetics looked to the creation of purely beautiful living spaces without regard to costs. His Darmstadt house had been a priceless toy,

a completely handmade, three-story jewel box. In Dusseldorf he turned his attention to the production aspects of applied art.

 

 

In 1904 behrens invited johannes ludovicus mathieu lauweriks, a Dutch architect with his own theory of ornamentation, to join the Dusseldorf

faculty. lauweriks was fascinated by abstract geometric constructions, which he believed to have mystical significance. lauweriks was a powerful influence on behrens’ architecture (the influence is especially notable in the interior of the crematorium at Hagen, which behrens built in 1905–1908) and his graphic design, in which geometrical figures, imposed one on another, take the place of behrens’ earlier art nouveau ornaments.

While working at the school in Dusseldorf,

behrens continued active as an architect. In addition to the Hagen crematorium, he built the splendid Villa Obenauer in Saarbruken (1905–1907), among other projects.

Interior of Crematorium in Hagen-Delstern

 

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