German Expressionism/Weimar: Georg Tappert
Two Girls on a Blue Sofa (Zwei Mädchen auf Blauem Sofa), 1923
Oil on canvas
104 x 85.4 cm
Private collection (Offered at Sotheby’s in 2020 with an estimate of £60,000 – £80,000)

Women from the exotic demimonde of Berlin were a frequent subject for Georg Tappert during the 1920s and 30s. His fascination with the glamour of the Roaring Twenties remains unbroken to this day, capturing a world that was as alluring as it was dangerous.

Tappert and the German Avant-Garde

Tappert was at the center of the German avant-garde network. Driven by the same anti-academic spirit that fueled the Vienna Secession, he constantly looked for artistic innovation. In 1910, Tappert became a co-founder and chief organizer of the Neue Secession in Berlin. This platform provided an important stage for expressionist groups like Die Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter.

Through these circles, Tappert worked alongside well-known figures like Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Wassily Kandinsky, and Franz Marc. His active role in these movements made him an important pioneer of German Expressionism.

The Reality of Weimar Berlin

In the midst of a fragile young Weimar Republic, Berlin became a metropolis with an enormous appeal. The wide range of leisure activities in variety shows, dance bars, and cinemas characterized the nights—as did drugs and prostitution. While large parts of the population lived in abject poverty, many tried to escape their everyday lives in the evenings.

The Kurfürstendamm transformed into a bustling boulevard and the center of pleasure-seeking masses. By 1929, Berlin was the largest industrial city in Europe with over four million inhabitants. It was a city that offered adventure, but it was also a place of crime and social division. This parallel existence of a wealthy upper class and a raw underworld challenged, frightened, and fascinated its residents. No artist of the era could ignore it.

Capturing the Demimonde: The Secessionist Spirit

Born in Berlin in 1880, Tappert was one of the first German artists to discover the city’s entertainment world as a subject for his pictures. Having come into contact with the Berlin demimonde as a child, he later devoted his canvas to the women who worked in cafés, variety shows, night bars, and circuses.

In Zwei Mädchen auf Blauem Sofa, we see this fascination up close. This is where Tappert’s approach connects directly to the world of Schiele and Klimt. Just as Klimt explored the psychological depths of his subjects and Schiele stripped away bourgeois pretense to expose the raw truth of his models, Tappert refuses to paint an idealized picture.

Instead of elegance, Tappert emphasizes the heavy, unvarnished physical presence of his models. He focuses on their weary, slumped postures, the solid weight of their arms, and the world-weary look in their eyes as one of them casually holds a cigarette. The tight stockings on their legs and the creased fabric of their clothes reinforce this rawness. There is a clear tension in their gaze—a mixture of fatigue, defiance, and a quiet sensuality. Tappert uses the same psychological honesty that defines the Viennese modernists, capturing both the glitter and the grit of everyday life.

Ultimately, this expressive style proved too provocative for the changing political climate. In 1933, the Nazi regime labeled Tappert’s depictions of women as “degenerate art,” forcing him into silence and ending his teaching career.