In recent decades, white walls have been favoured for hanging pictures and paintings in galleries and museums around the world. But this is changing. Sebastian Stahl spoke about this with Oliver Ahlers, whose gallery in Göttingen is currently presenting works of Classical Modernism in front of a striking wallpaper.
Rays of sunlight shine through the floor-to-ceiling windows into the interior of the gallery in Göttingen. They hit a painting by Franz Radziwill. It hangs in front of a green floral bird wallpaper by Osborne & Little.
Sebastian Stahl: Mr Ahlers, how did it come about that there are two walls with wallpaper in this spot in your gallery?
Oliver Ahlers: We recently remodelled here. One of our picture storage areas was relocated and we gained this new exhibition space as a result.
And the sight of the unfinished walls during the conversion ...
made me remember that I'd been wanting to wallpaper a wall in our gallery for a while.
Image source: Franz Radziwill / Courtesy Galerie Ahlers
So you wanted something a little different?
Today, many people associate a gallery or a museum with empty white or concrete-grey walls on which pictures are hung strictly side by side.
We have all become accustomed to the museum as a so-called "white cube".
Exactly, today we think of museums and galleries as large white cubes in which art is to be viewed without any architecture or distractions around it. The concept has a certain logic, but quickly becomes boring, at least in my view.
Image source (f.l.t.r.): Lesser Ury (2), Franz Radziwill / Courtesy Galerie Ahlers
On these two walls, you follow a different path.
Not really (laughs). Hanging paintings on wallpaper is nothing new. You only have to look at castles like Fulda or Detmold, for example. There, all the paintings hang in front of fabric coverings or wallpaper. Or think of Weimar: in Goethe's house, every room has a different colour.
Were these your role models?
That may have played a subconscious role, but it wasn't the main reason. I just like to keep changing and rethinking our walls. Be it a dark red or a pink wall, which we also have in our gallery at the moment and which we use for a Petersburg hanging, or the dark grey walls in our workshop. And now this new exhibition area with wallpaper.
Image source: Franz Radziwill / Courtesy Galerie Ahlers
What do your visitors say?
There are two camps. A small number are a little visually overwhelmed, but the majority are enthusiastic. For many, however, seeing art in a gallery in front of a multi-coloured, designed background is unfamiliar.
The result is an interplay between art and its surroundings.
In my view, that's what makes it so appealing. The ray of light on the frame, the shadow cast on the wall, the pattern behind the picture. All of this invites you to discover. Many visitors are surprised at how differently the individual rooms in our gallery are designed.
Image source: Lesser Ury / Courtesy Galerie Ahler
But you also said that some people were overwhelmed. Is there any art that is not compatible with wallpaper?
I think that's very individual. What's so nice about our walls is that they show visitors the effect a painting can have when it hangs in a lively environment. After all, our customers rarely hang their artwork in a white, empty room, but above the sofa or desk. Art harmonises well with coloured walls or motif wallpaper. For me, there are no generalised restrictions. In my experience, everyone feels differently about what goes well together. You just have to try it out.
What pictures do we currently see on the two wallpapered walls?
We have two works by Lesser Ury and a painting by Franz Radziwill on the Netherfield Park bird wallpaper by Osborne & Little. Both are Classical Modernist artists from the beginning of the 20th century. At first, Lesser Ury's Sunset hung next to the Radziwill. That didn't harmonise at all, but Lesser Ury's view of Berlin fits perfectly with the Radziwill.
The bird wallpaper behind it provides a suitable setting for the three works without dominating too much. At the same time, it lends the room a cosy, homely atmosphere, making it even more enjoyable to view the art.
Galerie Ahlers, founded in 1982 in the university city of Göttingen, presents contemporary art and works of classical modernism. In the heart of Göttingen's art quarter, the gallery has 350 square metres of exhibition space spread over three historic timber-framed buildings.
In addition to the twenty or so artists represented with changing exhibitions of their latest works, new discoveries from the art trade are presented in a permanent exhibition. As a member of the Federal Association of German Galleries (BVDG), Galerie Ahlers also advises on the creation, management and dissolution of private art collections.
>> Visit the website of Galerie Ahlers
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Image source: Galerie Ahlers