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In the foreground of the picture is a printing press with a gorilla sitting on it. In the background, on a pedestal against the wall, stands a medieval Madonna with a halo. To the left of the Madonna, an inverted globe floats, with the continents of Africa and Australia missing. The view through a window reveals a mountainous river landscape with a railway line and a row of houses.

Shortly after a two-week study trip to Holland in the summer of 1925, Grossberg created the first version of his central theme, 'Machine Room'. Here, the detailed precision of technical representations is combined with an almost surreal fantasy. The work belongs to a series of 'Traumbilder' (Dream Pictures) created between 1925 and 1939, alongside architectural and industrial images. While the origin of individual 'dream' motifs can be traced, such as the gorilla from G. H. von Schubert's 'Naturgeschichte der Säugetiere für Schule und Haus' (Natural History of Mammals for School and Home, 1886) and the Madonna from Justus Bier's Tilman Riemenschneider monograph (not published until 1925), the combination of these set pieces defies conclusive interpretation.

A second version of the 'Machine Room' (1932) hangs next to it. On closer inspection, minimal differences can be seen, such as the airplane in the sky.