Link only available on sub pages

The motif of this painting is a standardised terraced house, a so-called prefabricated house. The bright red rain gutters and window frames stand out in stark contrast to the white façade. The house is depicted from a side perspective, cropped on the right and left.  Sunlight falls on the house and its attached garage from the right.

Grossberg based his motif on a photographic template, presumably a documentary photograph identifying the house as part of the Düsseldorf steel house estates. The painter used the black-and-white photograph, now in his estate, with only a few deviations. While the composition, perspective and cropping were predetermined by the photograph, light and colour characterise Grossberg's painterly version.

The motif of the prefabricated house not only demonstrates Grossberg's continuing interest in architecture – he had studied architecture before the First World War – but can also be linked to the Bauhaus and the ideas developed there regarding a new way of building and living. Through its close collaboration with industry, the Bauhaus stood for a democratisation of architecture, design and art that promoted good, cross-genre design for all people.