2022 Christmas - Werner Berg - Holy Family, 1933 - Set

Christmas revolves around the Holy Family, which also graces the central section of the Holy Family altar by Werner Berg.

Werner Berg (1904-1981) spent most of his life as a farmer and painter on Rutarhof, an Alpine farm in Carinthia. The farming life also shaped his art, in which he depicted landscapes and people of his adopted homeland in paintings and woodcuts using his unmistakable two-dimensional style.

He created the Altar of the Holy Family in 1933 for the tender of an exhibition of religious modern art, but the design was rejected. The central section shows Joseph, Mary, and Jesus as simple peasants against a red background, while the four side images show nocturnal scenes from the life of Christ in shades of blue. The altar is exhibited at the Werner Berg Museum in Bleiburg/Pliberk in Carinthia.