Two different moods of Unter Den Linden After The Rain by Lesser Ury

Lesser Ury was born in a small Polish town Birnbaum (now known as Międzychód). In his early years, Ury moved to Prussia’s capital — Berlin. He soon became captivated by the sights and atmosphere of the city. The painting was an opportunity put all his fascination on canvas, to present his perspective on the busy but cozy streets of the Imperial capital.

Ury could wander around the streets and parks of Berlin for days, memorizing the everyday scenes of the city that always felt alive. The boulevard he depicted in this painting is Unter den Linden — located in the center of Berlin, and in the 19th century, it was a part of a luxury neighborhood where many of the rich and famous Berliners lived.

Unter Den Linden After The Rain was one of the first paintings of Ury that depicted this boulevard. He spent a lot of hours to make this work stand out, and in fact — Ury succeeded. The painting shows a busy scene with dozens of Berliners walking around. You can see a number of horse carriages patiently waiting in line, hoping for someone to use their services. Some people seem to be in a rush, while others are depicted as more relaxed.

Unter Den Linden After The Rain (1888) by Lesser Ury. Oil on canvas, 47.5cm × 37 cm. Source: Wikipedia Commons.

In the foreground, there is a couple of pedestrians crossing the street. The woman sets her sight toward the viewer. In his later works, Ury often used similar pairs of people who were looking toward the viewer of his painting. He was a master of depicting the evening and night scenery, creating beautiful light effects, and almost breaking away from the Impressionism features in some of his paintings. Ury’s works often were able to give the impression that the painting is very detailed and lacks detail at the same time.

Unter Den Linden After The Rain can be called a trademark work of Ury. The scenery has some light elements, but the overall selection of colors cannot be called colorful. This mix matches the mood and period of the year when Ury created most of his artworks. He loved to depict autumn scenes when the golden tones appeared thanks to nature. He occasionally depicted more colorful scenes that reminded him of spring or summer, but Ury was at his best in the depiction of evening and night scenes. Look at Nachtbeleuchtung — it’s fantastic.

This painting also represents some of the brightest periods of Berlin’s life — if we look at it from the artist’s lens. 32 years later, when most of the horse carriages got replaced by cars, Ury painted artwork with the same title. You can see it below.

Unter Den Linden After The Rain (1920) by Lesser Ury. Pastel on board, 35.7 cm x 50.7 cm. Source: Wikipedia Commons.

In comparison to its earliest version, the 1920 version looks bleak and depressive. It does not catch any strings of emotion. The color scheme is grey, and all the characters you can see there, lack facial expressions. The mood of this painting is clear anyway. The amount of details is also lesser than in the original version. You can feel that the times changed dramatically, and it looks like Ury was not as excited about living in Berlin in the early 20th century. It lost some of its appeals, or maybe it was just the fact that the painter became older.

Unter Den Linden After The Rain represents the best artistic period in the life of Lesser Ury. You can see his admiration for the simple scenes of a big city’s life. Berlin was his passion and inspiration. He did a great favor to the city, leaving beautiful depictions of everyday life, the scenery of Berlin during the late 19th century, and the contrasts of this period compared to the early 20th century. Ury was kind of a Zeitgeist of Berlin.

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