View of Roofs and Gardens

The view is from Blechen’s flat at 9 Kochstraße in Berlin. Abandoning the traditional schemata of landscape painting, Blechen risked an unusual composition that seems more like a detail from a larger work. On the right is the corner of the roof of the house, while on the left is an open view of the backyard and the adjoining garden. It has just rained and there are puddles in the yard. The roof reflects the gentle light. The subtly gradated colours create a muted atmosphere. For this work Blechen chose an utterly unspectacular motif from everyday life, simply painting what he saw, spontaneously and expressively — a daring move later taken up and further developed by Adolph Menzel.