Der jüdische Friedhof in Berlin-Weißensee

West German artist Sarah Schumann made abstract paintings and experimented with collage, two modes of expression that by the 1980s intersected in her work. Beginning in 1983, amid various travels far and wide, she also began visiting the German Democratic Republic (GDR), first to East Berlin and then to other East German cities. Schumann’s depictions of East German deteriorating cultural sites and buildings present floating, ghostly landmarks, which, in the years leading up to Germany’s reunification in November 1989, were especially poignant to West German audiences. “Der jüdische Friedhof in Berlin-Weißensee” incorporates Schumann’s photograph of the Jewish cemetery in Weißensee, a borough of East Berlin, with expressionist application opaque pigments and washes in sky blue, green, and pink. Schumann also added gestural strokes of black paint, and a long, handwritten text. The Weißensee cemetery is especially relevant among Schumann’s East German works; it was the first location she depicted, and the subject was readily applauded, prompting Schumann to explore the GDR further.