Inspired by the historic stairwell of Berlin’s Ellington Hotel, this painting is as much about the experience of being in a place as it is about the architecture itself.
The sweeping staircase, pale balustrade, dark steps and distinctive green tiles create a composition shaped by the relationship between colour, geometry and light. Warm ochre walls contrast with cool blue-grey surfaces, while the deep shadows give weight to the staircase and draw the eye through the building. The small figure on the upper landing introduces a human presence without resolving the scene into a story. She might be arriving, leaving or simply pausing; her purpose remains unknown.
The building, originally constructed in the late 1920s, embodies an architectural sensibility in which function, materials and form are closely connected. Its tiled surfaces, practical detailing and carefully considered spaces evoke a particular period of Berlin’s history. Yet the painting is not intended as a historical record or a literal architectural study. It reflects my own experience of the stairwell and the impression it left behind: its atmosphere, its colours, its proportions and the feeling of being inside it.
Memory inevitably changes what we see. Some details remain remarkably clear, while others recede or become less important. In painting, I try to find a balance between the physical character of a place and what stays with me after I have left it. In Ellington, the architecture provides the structure, but the painting is ultimately about the experience of inhabiting that space, if only for a moment.