Peter Behrens

Architect and designer, born in Hamburg, N Germany. Trained as a painter, he was appointed director of the Dusseldorf Art and Craft School (1903–7). In 1907 he became artistic adviser to Walther Rathenau at the AEG electrical company in Berlin, for whom he designed a turbine assembly works (1909) of glass and steel, a landmark in industrial architectural style. He was professor at Dusseldorf and Vienna, and trained several notable modern architects, including Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Walter Gropius.

Peter Behrens
Portrait of Peter Behrens by Max Lieberman
Personal Information
Name	Peter Behrens
Nationality	German
Birth date	April 14, 1868
Birth place	Hamburg, Germany
Date of death	February 27, 1940
Working Life
Significant Buildings	AEG Factory
Significant Projects	Deutscher Werkbund

Peter Behrens (April 14, 1868–February 27, 1940) was a German architect and designer. In 1899 Behrens accepted the invitation of the Grand-duke Ernst-Ludwig of Hesse to be the second member of his artist colony recently inaugurated in Darmstadt, where Behrens built his own house and fully conceived everything inside the house (furniture, towels, paintings, pottery, etc.) The building of this house is considered to be the turning point in his life, when he left the artistic circles of Munich and moved away from the Jugendstil towards a sober and austere style of design.

In 1903, Behrens was named director of the Kunstgewerberschule in Düsseldorf, where he implemented successful reforms.

In 1907, AEG (Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gessellschaft) hired Behrens as its artistic consultant.

Peter Behrens was a paradox of the architectural policy during the Third Reich as he remained head of the Department of Architecture at the Prussian Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin.

Peter Behrens was a pioneer in everything he did in the first half of the 20th century and his ideas were spread around the world by his students, especially by Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier.