Adolf von menzel biography

Modern Art

During the 1860s he broadened his repertoire to include scenes from modern, contemporary life, and events of more recent German history.

Adolf von menzel biography

He was the first German artist to depict the aesthetic side of industry - as in The Steel Mill (1872-5, Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin). Another of his 'modern' works was Afternoon in the Tuileries Gardens (1867, National Gallery, London), based on a series of sketches the artist made during a visit to Paris that year to see the Universal Exposition.

Probably inspired by Edouard Manet's own somewhat looser treatment of the Tuileries Gardens, Menzel's depiction of this bustling scene, replete with incidental details, remains wholly legible. In addition, his architectural realism is evident in The Interior of the Jacobskirche at Innsbruck (1872, National Gallery of Art, Washington).

Pioneer of Impressionism

Curiously although Menzel achieved widespread contemporary recognition for his lith