Ludwig van Beethoven, Sitzfigur - Fotografie eines Modells von Peter Breuer für ein Beethoven-Denkmal in Bonn

The Beethoven monument designed by sculptor Peter Christian Breuer from Cologne has a particularly long and chequered history. Breuer, a professor at the Berlin Art Academy since 1897, had obviously thought about the design of a Beethoven monument as early as 1910 and had probably created different drafts. However, no larger project was ever carried out. When a public tendering procedure was announced for a Beethoven monument in Berlin in 1926, Breuer submitted his proposals, among them his older drafts.

In its effect Breuer"s Beethoven sculpture is strongly determined by the squareness of the figure and the flatness of the forms. Thus the monument is a typical example of the sculptor"s artistic development in the first quarter of the 20th century. Breuer gradually distanced himself from the naturalistic Neo-baroque style and favoured a monumental effect for his works by reducing details and stylising individual forms. (S.B.)