In Nietzsche's Shadow: Henry van de Velde and the New Style in Architecture

Abstract

Henry van de Velde's intellectual relation to Nietzsche constitutes one of the interesting episodes in the early developments of Modernism in architecture. On the basic level, it opens the question of the influence of a radical philosopher of Modernity on a contemporary artist: while at another level it raises the question of the correspondence between 'idea' and 'form' in the context of an architectural problem: the project for the Nietzsche Monument in Weimar. Although this relation has already been explored by other scholars, this paper will look at some of the parallels in the thoughts of the philosopher and the artist, as in their vision of the role of art in culture, while also examining the discrepancies in Henry van de Velde's understanding, or appropriation, of the Nietzschean message. This is evident in the Nietzsche Monument project, a project that showed the artist's difficulty at the time in conceptualizing a project that would concretize the philosopher's vision. Finally, this paper will explore the parallel notions of power and force, the former being a foundational nation in the philosopher's thought, the latter a foundational notion in the artist's aesthetic theory.