Space Time and the Bauhaus

Abstract

In his 1941 book Space, Time and Architecture, Swiss critic Sigfried Giedion paired Walter Gropius’ Bauhaus building in Dessau with Picasso's painting L'Arlésienne. He claimed that the Bauhaus, just like the painting, “permits interior and exterior to be seen simultaneously,” and was thus a perfect example of the “conception of space-time.” This claim had its roots in late-nineteenth-century architectural theories that understood space through movement as well as the 1920s fascination with Albert Einstein's space-time continuum. Several artists and architects engaged deeply with a quest to apply a fourth dimension to contemporary art and architecture. Theo Van Doesburg first presented his discussion of Einstein's impact in a lecture at the Bauhaus in 1922. Meanwhile, critics claimed that spaces of contemporary architecture could only be comprehended through movement, and thus required time. Mies van der Rohe's Brick Country House and Barcelona Pavilion were frequently cited as embodiments of the new space-time paradigm. The reception and misunderstanding of Einstein's space-time theorem is a little-known but important undercurrent in the discourse of modern art and architecture. The Bauhaus played an important role as an incubator for these ideas and its building in Dessau remains one of their most important manifestations.