Link only available on sub pages

The Wuppertal painting 'Stillleben: Die Elemente' (Still-Life: The Elements, formerly also titled 'The Dream'), shows a view into a narrow room with a large window opening on the black wall. Next to this opening are two seemingly floating figures, which are Tilman Riemenschneider's stone portal figures of Adam and Eve from the Marienkapelle in Würzburg. Another opening at the front of the painting features two tubes that resemble a ladder and lead into the hole. However, the view into or through the opening is blocked. Various stylised objects, such as spheres, tubes and plates, are positioned next to it, neither corresponding to a uniform perspective nor reflecting a realistic situation. The depicted pictorial space and the objects it contains cannot be understood at first or even second glance; there is no narrative logic here. Grossberg also presents viewers with a puzzle in this 'Traumbild' (Dream Picture).

He skilfully combines real and unreal moments, staging them in a cool and sober manner. The painting is formally captivating due to the light-dark contrast, which the painter softens with a few muted colours.