Story of Max Peiffer Watenphul, the Bauhaus painter who found his new homeland in Italy

A major retrospective titled "Max Peiffer Watenphul. Pittore del Bauhaus" has opened at the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (GNAMC) in Rome, curated by Gregor H. Lersch, director of the Museo Casa di Goethe. The exhibition explores the complex artistic journey of Max Peiffer Watenphul (1896–1976), a German Bauhaus-trained painter who found a second home in Italy. It highlights his multidisciplinary approach, his troubled painting style marked by unusual materials and scratched surfaces, and his deep connection to Italy, where he fled after Nazi persecution and where he lived until his death.

The exhibition matters because it re-evaluates a lesser-known Bauhaus figure whose work was suppressed by the Nazi regime as "degenerate art." It also challenges the common perception of Bauhaus as solely an architecture and design school, revealing it as a broad, interdisciplinary creative institution. By showcasing Peiffer Watenphul's Italian period and his participation in the Venice Biennale (1948, 1950), the show underscores the enduring cultural exchange between Germany and Italy, and restores an important artist to the art historical canon five decades after his death.