The eternal wave
The Eternal Wave is a mural in the auditorium of the Hamburg University of Fine Arts (HFBK Hamburg). It is considered the main work of Willy von Beckerath and consists of eight parts. The painting symbolically shows the rise and fall of a cultural era. It was created between 1911 and 1918 and was presented to the public on March 23, 1918 in a speech by Aby Warburg . Around 2009 the painting was restored to its original colors in several stages . To mark the centenary of the HFBK Hamburg in 2013, the painting on the ceiling and walls of the auditorium was also exposed and restored. The artistic parquet floor was also renewed. The auditorium has now become perceptible again as a spacious work of art.
The big mural
Beckerath himself explained his mural series in May 1918 in a letter to his friend Gustav Ophüls and at the same time added references to the accompanying verses by Hans Much to the individual scenes . This comment 'unravels' the program in simple terms. It is cited in the small handout for better understanding by Michael Diers in the HFBK newsletter No. 52 (2008).
The individual parts of the mural
Rise
Mural 1 on the window wall: The content of the depictions is cyclical and begins with a female figure who, standing on the heights, with her back turned to the viewer, spies the first signs of the beginning of the morning - which is noticeable over a mountain range in the red glow . - It is the first inkling of a coming development towards an epoch of spiritual prosperity.
Rise
The distance trembles. I stand and wait,
wrapped in my longing robe.
Oh, some waited
and looked into the dim land.
The morning longs for sheaves of gold.
I feel her approach trembling.
Sensing colors
slide along the breathing path.
Does the twilight light up, does the rigidity relieve?
Is he coming, the hero in splendor?
I stand and wait. - -
Light is his name! -
Does it give way to the night?
Bound
Mural 2 on the front wall: This is followed by a bound female figure with a face covered by a robe. It represents the mental powers that are still bound.
Bound
Once my imagination saw a lot of light;
Has all the shine gone?
I don't get hold of him, I don't see him,
where is he who speaks redemption,
who boldly breaks the spell of the distance?
How dark are the hours!
- - Bound,
bound!
Annunciation
Mural 3 on the front wall: Then comes a large picture that breaks down into two groups. The group on the left shows male figures - warriors - who are pushed away by a female figure with a defensive gesture. This means that the reactionary spiritual elements must first be overcome before new growth can take place. The right group of this picture represents a male figure who, in a prophetic gesture, calls out to a group of figures, some of them still asleep, others that are just awakening. - That means as much as the awakening of new life forces - always referring to the spiritual life.
Annunciation
Do you hear the rustling
waves of light?
Let us listen to the
light face!
Restraining power trudges along, grumbling.
Hope unfolds,
watch now, wake up!
Sleeper on earth -
Holy light,
victory shall become us!
Victory and judgment!
Enlightenment
Mural 4 on the front wall: Then follows a female figure with the movement of a person who sees light again for the first time after a long period of darkness. The consciousness of a new era is awakening.
Enlightenment
Is it a person of flesh and blood
Who rests firmly in my dreams?
Is it a god of light and courage
And love?
My longing flies out the gate.
Light floods through the earthly house.
I spread my heart and arms
And think….
Unfolding
Mural 5 on the entrance wall: This is followed by a fantastic flower and bud ornament, flanked by two women. From the buds or flowers, the figures of children stretch out towards the sunlight. - The two female figures left and right admire this process of the new development of life.
Unfolding
Not the reputation and not the warning
The young bud life needs
Ray of foreboding
Makes it tremble joyfully and deeply.
Ray of foreboding throbbing violently,
More than lightning and wild weather.
Unstoppable
The bud leaves open
Nothing of rest and nothing of the end.
Madness and happiness and source noise!
Raise your hands!
Let us be silent, let us listen!
Ascent (mural 1)
Bound (mural 2)
Annunciation (mural 3)
Enlightenment (mural 4)
Unfolding (mural 5)
Fulfillment
Wall picture 6 on the entrance wall: Then comes the largest picture (17 meters long). This falls into three groups:
The middle shows the light bringer, the genius, the great personality. She is just taking one step from a cloud to earth, one foot still rests on the cloud. Standing on it, looking straight ahead and not involved in what is going on left and right, are six veiled female figures, representing the ideas - in the platonic sense - that genius mediates anew to the earthly.
The left group of this middle group, which adjoins the bursting blossoms, shows a group of figures in a large crescendo from awakening to full awakening. The new life - excited by the sight of the hero - bursts out with all its might.
The right group expresses in most of the figures the willingness to receive the newly conveyed ideas by the hero. From this group - as a further effect of the spiritual movement - a female figure on a horse emerges. A male figure walks in front of the horse with a movement that restrains the horse's step. Another female figure on a starry cloak hovers over this female figure on horseback; she blows on an instrument. This from the group described above represents: Enthusiasm (riding woman), the horse: Passion and strength, held in place by the male figure. The figure hovering above indicates the move into the transcendental - symbolized by floating on the starry mantle and making music. The culmination point - the height of the waves - is reached with the appearance of the hero and continues to have an effect in this right group for a while.
Fulfillment
From the coolness, from the silence, where the primeval figures are enthroned,
Does he want to come down to us, live with us in the sultriness.
And the dreaming tremble, and guards go and whisper.
And the good come cheering, and the best stand in amazement.
And who remained in the gloomy woman, and who can believe and imagine,
Presses the swollen breasts, exults with filled longing.
Light in the face, light in the heart, light in his gesture of grace
The offspring of eternity goes creating through the new earth.
And his word is path and instruction, and his step is strength and germination,
And the primal secret is reflected in his chaste walk.
game
Mural 7 on the entrance wall: The following picture shows three dancers throwing golden balls at each other. - The great enthusiasm, the spiritual movement, already flows out in the game - virtuosity.
game
Come on let's play! On lurching waves
The game carries us from the cliffy beach.
Retaliatory hero orders.
Look at the breathing land from afar.
Bringer of Light! Your work and your being.
Once our longings, possessions and goals.
Can no longer grasp now, no more to read
Only accessible to rhythmic play.
Powerful in you announce, powerful in showing
tired we gradually the listening hallway.
Come on let's play! In a lovely dance
Let's walk your lofty trail.
Decline
Mural 8 on the window wall on the left: The last picture shows two women who are submerged in the sea. They stand out from the large disk of the sun, which has already half disappeared behind the horizon of the sea.
Decline
Now the wide circle rests.
The eternally pure customer
Bows her head, tired to death.
It inclines the tired senses,
Who once began to
Believed faithfully in her career.
The last notes sound
With maternal wings
Cover a tired child for the night.
Until after a deep slumber
Already to air and sorrow,
The run in the ring begins again.
The wave valley begins again, the first picture - sunrise - logically follows the final picture. The representation is completely self-contained and symbolizes a recurring process in the history of spiritual humanity, which does not come to a point in a pyramid to a greater perfection, but always runs in wavy lines with ups and downs in a horizontal basic direction. In terms of content, it is just as much in contradiction to the modern development-historical world view as it is formally in contradiction, even in marked contrast to the 'decisive' directions.
Fulfillment (mural 6, left part)
Fulfillment (mural 6, middle part)
Fulfillment (mural 6, right part)
Game (mural 7)
Decline (mural 8)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cf. HFBK, press release, The eternal wave from the roll back onto the wall [1]
- ↑ a b Michael Diers - A small handout for better understanding (from HFBK newsletter No. 52/2008 - pp. 4 to 7) ( Memento from November 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive )