The “Dream Pictures” play a special role in Grossberg's work. He painted them between 1925 and 1932, at the same time as his architectural and industrial images. But they are surrounded by a completely different atmosphere. These paintings appear eerie, enigmatic, and sometimes even paradoxical. Consisting of contradictory elements (architecture, technology, nature), each precisely executed, they offer numerous interpretations and confuse the senses at the same time.
Even during the Weimar period, Grossberg was preoccupied with bizarre, fantastical motifs, as shown in his watercolors featuring ghosts in urban settings. The 1923 painting Noah's Ark is also related to his later „Dream Pictures“ and their magical objects. The Von der Heydt Museum's collection includes two “Dream Pictures”: “Still Life: The Elements” (1931) and “Machine Room” (1925). There are two versions of the latter. Unlike the original painting, the 1932 version shows a small airplane in the sky and a car on a road in the middle ground.
The photograph “Hole” by Thomas Demand (2013) is imbued with a similarly eerie atmosphere. Typical of his approach, Demand recreated a template from the media and then photographed it. Grossberg also repeatedly draws on templates such as encyclopedias or advertising catalogs for his compositions.
