The Viadrina Municipal Museum is pleased to announce a significant new acquisition: It is an oil painting by Carl Alexander Brendel (1877–1945) from 1928. The painting is entitled "Storm over the Oder Meadows" and shows the hustle and bustle of farm workers trying to get the hay on the Oder meadows to safety in time before the approaching downpour. The silhouette of the city of Frankfurt (Oder) is clearly visible in the background of the painting. In addition to its depiction of Frankfurt and its high quality, it is also worth noting the unusual way in which this painting came to the museum.

Painting "Sturm über den Oderwiesen" by Carl Alexander Brendel (1877–1945), 1928, Oil on canvas © Sonja Michaels
"Sturm über den Oderwiesen" by Carl Alexander Brendel © Sonja Michaels

The painting has most likely been owned by the Frankfurt entrepreneurial Paetsch family since its creation in 1928 and was passed down through the family for at least two generations. The last owner was Rosemarie Lüßmann (1938–2024), née Blind. She is a granddaughter of the Frankfurt entrepreneur Walter Paetsch (1869–1938) and died in southern Germany at the beginning of 2024.

In her legacy, the last owner had stipulated that the painting, which had once come from Frankfurt, should be left to the city museum of her native city after her death. The bequest is linked to the condition that the painting must first be publicly exhibited in Frankfurt for 25 years. After that, ownership will pass to the city of Frankfurt (Oder) as the sponsor of the Viadrina Municipal Museum.

The painter Carl Alexander Brendel studied in Paris, Berlin and Rome and was a professor at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Weimar, among other places. Brendel mainly painted animals and landscapes. He last lived not far from the Buschmühle in Frankfurt (Oder), where he died in September 1945.

Now the painting, which contains many facets of Frankfurt's city history, has returned to its place of origin and can be viewed in the Odersaal of the Junkerhaus, along with numerous other works by Brendel.

Thanks are due to all those involved in the transfer of the painting to Frankfurt (Oder). In particular, the direct heirs of Rosemarie Lüßmann, the Legal Department of the City of Frankfurt (Oder), the Kulturbetriebe Frankfurt (Oder) and the head of the collection, Dr. Sonja Michaels.