Ah, Villa Thum. Doesn’t just the name conjure images of a bygone era?
Villa Thum in Frankfurt Oder was once the home of Elfriede Thum. She was a painter born in Berlin in 1886. Imagine her here surrounded by the rustling leaves and the quiet murmur of the countryside.
Elfriede studied literature, history, painting and sculpture at the University of Lausanne. Later, she became one of the most important Berlin Expressionists. In 1909, she met Max Pechstein. In Tzschetzschnow near Frankfurt Oder she bought a piece of land.
Here, she built her villa. In 1913, Elfriede married Rolf Lauckner. They moved into Villa Thum and named the area around the house Katzengrund. This was after Hermann Sudermann’s novel Der Katzensteg.
Elfriede Thum initially signed her work with Erich Thum. It was still hard to sell art as a woman. She wanted her work to be seen. Paul Cassirer exhibited her works in 1912. Her work was published in his Kriegzeit from 1914. She also worked as a stage set designer.
The Nazis classified Elfriede’s expressionist work as “entartet”. From 1937, her work was banned from exhibition. Yet, the Herr Reichsminister did not confiscate her paintings. During the war, Villa Thum was damaged. It was later demolished.
Elfriede Thum spent her last years with her husband in Berlin-Grunewald. She died in Berlin in 1952 of pneumonia due to malnutrition. In 1955, Elfriede Thum was honored with a retrospective in the Rathaus Wilmersdorf.
Today, only two pillars remain. These stand at the foot of the former entrance stairs of Villa Thum. They are silent witnesses to the life and work of a talented artist. The city of Frankfurt Oder remembers Elfriede Thum. A main connecting road now bears the name of the painter Elfriede Thum. It ensures that her legacy lives on.