Museum for a Small City project (Interior perspective)
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
American, born Germany. 1886–1969
1941-43
A photographic collage—cut-out photographs and photo reproductions mounted on illustration board—in which Mies van der Rohe stages sculptures and a large mural to imagine the interior arrangement and sightlines of his unrealized "Museum for a Small City."
You first notice the vast white field interrupted by a low horizontal band of images: a dense, high‑contrast mural centered between spare photographic strips with reclining and seated sculptures perched at either end, producing a theatrical, almost cinematic horizon of objects within emptiness.
The work documents Mies’s experimental use of collage as a design tool to choreograph how artworks occupy space, anticipates modern museum display strategies, and reveals his minimalist concern with sightlines, proportion, and the framing of objects in architectural settings.
Medium
Cut-out photographs and photo reproductions on illustration board
Dimensions
30 1/2 x 40 1/2" (77.5 x 102.9 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Mies van der Rohe Archive, gift of the architect
Accession
724.1963
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
