The Illustrative Beginnings of Claus Bergen
Born in Stuttgart, Germany, Claus Bergen was the son of the painter and illustrator Fritz Bergen. His artistic training began in Munich, where he attended the painting school of Moritz Weinhold and later studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Art under Carl von Marr. His early career was marked by a prolific period starting in 1907, during which he created over 450 illustrations for the adventure tales of Karl May. These works, which depicted exotic locales such as India and Arabia, as well as the Old West, were widely associated with May's stories and were exhibited at the Wereldtentoonstelling in Brussels in 1910.
As his career progressed, Bergen traveled extensively through Norway, England, the Mediterranean, and America. He developed a specialized focus on naval subjects, fishing scenes, and coastal views, including a series of paintings centered on the Cornish fishing village of Polperro.
Naval and Wartime Artistry
Bergen's reputation as a maritime artist was solidified when he was appointed Marine Painter to Kaiser Wilhelm II. Following the Battle of Jutland in 1916, he accompanied Admiral Scheer aboard his flagship to observe a replay of the battle for the purpose of creating depictions of the action. His naval works were later featured in the Laboe Naval Memorial in Kiel and the Tamm Museum in Hamburg. In a unique endeavor in 1917, he joined the crew of the submarine U-53 on an Atlantic combat patrol to produce a series of paintings.
His repertoire also expanded to include aviation scenes due to his associations within the German aviation industry, and his work was used to decorate the interior of the Dornier Do X flying boat. During the Second World War, his status as a cultural asset exempted him from military service. One notable work from this era, The Bombardment of Almeria, was commissioned by the Nazis as a realistic counter-piece to Picasso's Guernica. This painting was eventually seized by the British in 1945 and is currently held by the National Maritime Museum in London.
