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Oskar Schlemmer's art is closely associated with the institution of the Bauhaus. Working first in Weimar from 1921 and then in Dessau from 1925 to 1932, Schlemmer found opportunities to experiment with new artistic ideas and to unite different disciplines - painting, mural painting, sculpture, drawing, graphics and stage design - in his idea of an all-encompassing art. Schlemmer was particularly interested in the depiction of the human figure and its relationship to space.

When he was dismissed by the Nazis and banned from exhibiting, he lost his livelihood and worked temporarily in a painting shop in the 1930s. A turning point came in 1940 when he joined Kurt Herberts' paint factory in Wuppertal. There he received commissions and explored the artistic possibilities of lacquer as a new design material. Kurt Herberts, an anthroposophical Wuppertal entrepreneur and patron of the arts, turned his factory into one of the most important lacquer production facilities in Germany, which also worked for the war industry. His support also opened up new creative prospects for Schlemmer - and other artists such as Willi Baumeister and Franz Krause - despite the adverse circumstances. They joined together to form the 'Wuppertal Maltechnikum'.

In addition to his work at and for Herberts, Schlemmer produced a series of impressive cityscapes in Wuppertal and the so-called window pictures from the house at Döppersberg 24. The small gouache 'Wuppertal at night. Alte Freiheit' from 1942 shows the historic Alte Freiheit square in Elberfeld, over which the suspension railway runs.