In his studio in Greenwich Village, Norwegian artist Vebjorn Sand paints the unimaginable. By Vebjorn Sand
The most effective way to paint a narrative is to paint it figuratively. One of the reasons why I think there are few paintings from World War II is because the official art of the Third Reich was the classical figurative style. Modern and expressionistic art was forbidden and was called “degenerate art.” (entartete Kunst) The 40’s were a long time ago, so now maybe people have a little less trouble seeing that period of history dealt with figuratively. Perhaps, I am one of the first to deal with this period as a painter.
World War II was by far the largest military, political, and humanitarian crisis in history. It revealed demons and angels in man. I am not a history painter, though I am using this period as a framework for certain questions I am asking. What is it to be a human being? And, how could civilization collapse so completely? We have to understand what it is to be a human being, all over again. Psychology, medicine, and politics had to be re-examined because of this war. Hannah Arendt’s thorough examination of Adolf Eichmann’s mind showed us that many of us are capable of committing acts more evil then we believed we could, “under the right circumstances”. The war also proved to us that human beings can endure mental and physical suffering on a scale that we never thought was possible.
On the 20th of January in 1942, fifteen high-ranking representatives of the SS, the NSDAP and various ministries met to discuss their cooperation in the planned deportation and murder of the European Jews.
I have felt powerless and discouraged by the enormous scale and suffering. The biggest challenge has been to deal with the Final Solution. To open the doors of the House of the Wannsee Conference in Berlin, where the Final Solution was implemented, was to walk into what has been called the most evil place in the universe. There, I gathered ideas for several compositions.
The Holocaust is not the main focus of the series, “Scenes from the Second World War.” I am also telling stories about some well-known and other less well-known events, portraying individual human beings who lived up to the greatest potential that could have existed within them. In confronting the worst of human betrayal, they triumphed with their strength of character.
For many years, I have had a picture of the German soldier Josef Schultz on my wall. Josef refused to execute partisans and civilians from a Yugoslovian village, and proceeded to remove his helmet, put down his rifle and join the execution line. The image of the young Josef making his sacrificial decision on a summer day in 1941, has challenged me. He shows us that even at the last frontier of human existence, we still have a choice, to be free. These are pictures about victims, and also about human beings that realized their responsibility to think for themselves, such as the White Rose, the young, brave medical students at the University of Munich, who disseminated Anti-Nazi leaflets around Germany.
There is a bright and a dark side in man’s psyche. I have been illustrating this dichotomy by using impressionistic techniques combined with a darker, more Baroque style. I hope when people view my paintings about the Wannsee Conference from afar, they will ponder Monet and Renoir. I hope when viewers look closer, they will realize the darker side of man.
The series, “Scenes from the Second World War” is on display at Gallery Sand in the West Village, NYC at 277 west 4th between Perry and 11th street. Vebjorn Sand plans to open part 3 of the exhibition in the Fall.