View on Leichlingen Cathedral 1935

Werner Peiner created this view of Leichlingen Cathedral using oil paints, though we don't know exactly when. You can see the marks in the paint, it feels as if the artist is building the city and Cathedral out of slabs of colour. The Cathedral looms in the background, rendered in muted greys and browns that merge with the stormy sky. Up close, the texture is really something, especially in the foreground where the strokes build a kind of stage. Look at the way Peiner handles the rooftops, dabbing them with square brushstrokes of ochre and brown. It’s not so much about representing a literal scene, it’s more about the act of building an image, brick by painted brick. It reminds me a little bit of some of the early cubists, like Braque or Picasso, who were also interested in breaking down forms into their basic components. Only here, it's not about fracturing space, it's about constructing a solid, weighty world.