Bauhaus

In 1919 Walter Gropius united the Applied Arts School and Academy of Fine Arts in Weimar to form the Bauhaus. From the Viennese Sezession group and the Wiener Werkstätte, he was influenced by the Arts-and-crafts movement, expressionism and utopian thought. Later Bauhaus was influenced by De Stijl, simplicity and functionalism. Designers worked closely with traders and technicians. Art, architecture and design had to form a unity. The Bauhaus style is simple and geometric. According to Gropius, artists had to be seen as craftsmen, products had to be practical and affordable. He tried to combine art and technology and believed that the machine could be used as a craftsman's tool. Design and art had to serve everyday life.

After the First World War, it was believed that artists could contribute to reconstruction by creating a new visual environment. A better living environment would lead to the improvement of humanity and thus to a better world.

In 1933 the Bauhaus was closed by order of the Nazis. The ideas lived on: art academies adapted their curricula to the Bauhaus philosophy, the designers fled from Germany and in this way spread the ideas of Bauhaus all over the world.