Werner Berg *

(Wuppertal-Elberfeld 1904–1981 St. Veit im Jauntal/Kärnten)
Wartende im Schneefall (Waiting in the Snowfall), 1969, monogrammed W. B., oil on canvas, 35.5 x 56 cm, framed
Listed and illustrated:
Harald Scheicher et al., Werner Berg. Gemälde, Klagenfurt 1994, cat. rais. no. 839

Provenance:
Private Collection, Vienna - directly acquired from the artist

"In old paintings, there is always the artist's turn towards the particular, the concealed, often the grotesque. And in my work, there is a whole series of paintings in which the umbrellas play their role, their transforming and image-defining role."

Werner Berg

Determined to find meaning and perspective for his art in an independent life, Werner Berg acquired a farm in Southern Carinthia in 1930, where he subsequently worked as a farmer. Contrary to all the comforts that his previous life could have afforded him, he lived under the simplest conditions – without electricity and without a motor vehicle throughout his life. He took care of all his travel needs by bicycle or train. However, the richly visual conditions around his farm changed with the increasing industrialization.

After the war, many farm workers had become commuters. Waiting early in the morning in dense fog between the railroad tracks, their waiting for an uncertain destination became, for the artist, a metaphor for an alienated life. Cloaked in thick coats and armed only with their umbrellas, the two figures in this painting stand isolated in the winter cold. The heavy snowflakes are the only remaining indication of the surrounding nature.
Harald Scheicher