Peter Behrens. The Practical and the Ideal @ The Kaiser Wilhelm Museum Krefeld

“…this is also a sure sign for the development of our style that we gradually succeed in bringing the practical back in line with the ideal. It seems to me, this could now also apply to many aspects of our common aspirations.”¹ So wrote Peter Behrens in 1901 to the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum Krefeld’s director Friedrich Deneken.

With the exhibition The Practical and the Ideal the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum Krefeld explore not only how Peter Behrens’ understood such and how he attempted to achieve just that, but also the importance of both the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum and Friedrich Deneken in the development of Peter Behrens’ oeuvre. And in doing so offer new perspectives on the popularly understood Behrens’ biography.