Potsdamer Platz, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1914)
Kirchner's painting "Potsdamer Platz" represents a pivotal moment in his artistic interpretation of familiar urban spaces. The large-format work meticulously captures the square's topography, featuring the distinctive curved facade of the entertainment palace with the legendary Café Piccadilly (later renamed Café Vaterland), the main entrance to Potsdamer Station, and the partially visible Siechen beer house. The traffic island in the foreground, while historically accurate, is reimagined as a stage for two elegant ladies of the night, highlighting the square's transformation from daytime business hub to nocturnal red-light district.
The painting gained additional symbolic depth after the outbreak of World War I, when Kirchner added the black widow's veil – a patriotic fashion statement in 1914 Berlin showing solidarity with war victims.
