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'Avus' stands for 'Automobil-Verkehrs- und Übungsstraße' (automobile traffic and training road), and refers to a motorway that opened in 1921 and was used exclusively as a racing and test track in south-west Berlin until 1940. A single trip around the 19-kilometre circuit cost a hefty ten marks at the time. Car and motorcycle races attracted large numbers of spectators.

In his 1928 painting, Grossberg places the wide northern gatehouse of the car test track at the centre of the picture – as an empty, almost surreal-looking place dominated by huge billboards. To the right of the open passageway, a single car stands, easy to overlook.

Although car test tracks are typically associated with noise and speed, the scene here exudes a strong sense of calm. The flat façade of the main building runs parallel to the picture plane, its edges aligned with the sides of the painting. Grossberg applied the oil paint in a very controlled manner, with no clearly discernible modulation. The painting was exhibited in 1928 alongside eleven of the artist's other paintings in the 'Kunst und Technik' (Art and Technology) exhibition at the Museum Folkwang in Essen, which was shown in Berlin the following year.