2018 Germany €20 Silver Coin Issue "Peter Behrens 150 Years"

• Mint: Berlin (A)
• Denomination: €20
• Quality: Proof/UNC
• Limit: 140,000/900,000
• Alloy: 92.5% Sterling Silver
• Diameter: 32.5 mm
• Weight: 18 grams
• Design: Anna Steinmann
• Box/Capsule: No/Yes
• Certificate: Proof in printed folder
• Edge Lettering: "IM UEBRIGEN AUTODIDAKT" (Otherwise self-taught)

One of Germany's greatest architects during the first decade of the 20th century, Peter Behrens (1868–1940) was a pioneer of corporate design as well as modernist architecture (buildings characterized by functionalist style and new materials). Educated as a painter, he later turned into a graphic designer developing typefaces, an industrial designer designing functional products and corporate branding, and finally into a self-taught architect, which is remarkable as he was untrained in engineering. Behrens was willingly reliant on the expertise of talented engineers when it came to materials and structural dimensions, but as an artist, he was able to give form and meaning to projects that eluded the engineers.

Noted for his modern-style factories and office buildings - his most famous work is the AEG Turbine Factory (1909) - he is seen by most art critics as a link between Art Nouveau - known in Germany as Jugendstil - and 20th century industrial design.

But perhaps his greatest contribution to modern architecture lies in his choice of assistants, who included future giants like Walter Gropius (1883-1969), Le Corbusier (1887-1965) and Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969). Deeply influenced by Behrens, these immensely gifted designers propagated his ideas around the world, and had a huge impact on 20th century American skyscraper architecture, with the development of the International Style and the Second Chicago school (1940-75).

In addition to his designwork, Behrens helped to establish the German Work Federation (Deutscher Werkbund) - loosely modelled on the English Arts and Crafts movement - in order to streamline the production of high quality applied art and crafts of various kinds.