The Life of a Multi-Talented Artist
From painting to visual arts to design and architecture—a look at the biography of the multi-talented artists shows not only his multi-faceted talent, but also his special connection to the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.
Henry van de Velde (1863-1957) originally studied painting in Paris and Antwerp. But his interest in arts and crafts was not far behind. An inner crisis in his 20s led him to turn to art and architecture. Over the years, he enjoyed more and more architectonic successes across Europe.
In 1902, Henry van de Velde was called to Weimar to build an arts and crafts workshop. That was the beginning of the Weimar Saxon-Grand Ducal Art School, which was finally founded by Van de Velde in 1907. Here, he not only taught artisanal handicrafts, but also was active as an architect. Van de Velde planned and erected the buildings of the Weimar Saxon-Grand Ducal Art School and the famous Van de Velde building, then the School of Arts and Crafts. Other impressive Weimar buildings include Van de Velde’s house Hohe Pappeln (1907/1908), the Dürckheim villa (1912/1913) and the Henneberg villa (1913/1914).
After this important creative period, Henry van de Velde left Weimar and worked as an architect in Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Numerous private and public assignments in various fields, the construction of an important museum, the participation in important international world exhibits, as well as architecture professorships at renowned universities make him to this day one of the most versatile artists of the Art Nouveau.