Katalog “Elektrische Einrichtung im Theater” 1908. Peter Behrens
AEG-Lackfabrik. Henningsdorf, Germany 1911. Peter Behrens
Various Cover Designs for AEG (Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft) and Delmenhorster Linoleumwerke 1907-1909. Peter Behrens
AEG turbine factory (1909), Peter Behrens
"Technical form [e.g., a factory] is not so objective that it is independent of the personality of the man who discovers that latent form. Consequently, it is not insignificant wether it should be Behrens or someone else who speaks the magic word which delivered this form. The character and the intensity of this formal revelation is doubtless determined by the power of the utterance and the grandeur of the gesture with which the prophet allows the rhythm which is concealed within necessities to comprehend and materialize itself. On the other hand, ... the form which finally crystallizes is only the predestined variation of the single possible theme; it is a clearly cut facet through one receives an insight into the estethic heart of the condition of tension of the powers which have been bound in the material but which have been brought to form.[...] Behrens must be named a forerunner of that future religion of form who knows how to grasp the sacred desire of our day in the pathos of his lines and in the radiant tension of his spaces; he appears to be called to build an optical shrine, a temple. As Behrens sets out to achieve compelling symbols for electricity , he feels more strongly than ever that sacred will which would erect an festival house on the high mountain of which Behrens himself, as a world-priest of beauty said: "Here above we are filled with the impression of a higher purpose which can only be translated into that which is sensible; it is our spiritual need, the gratification of our metaphysical sense." Robert Breuer about the work of Behrens published in "Werkkunst III" (1908)