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Peter Behrens (1869-1940) Peter Behrens was born in Hamburg in 1869. Behrens studied painting at the Karlsruhe School of Art, and then in Düsseldorf under Ferdinand Brütt. In 1890 he visited the Netherlands before settling in Munich. He was a member of the Munich Secession and mixed with the artistic radicals of his day. Behrens eventually abandoned painting in favour of graphic and applied arts. In 1897 he was one of the founders of the Munich Vereinigte Werkstätten (United Workshops). Behrens formed a close friendship with Otto Eckmann and designed for "Pan". His early career as a painter and graphic artist reveals him as an exponent of jugendstil artwork. In 1899 he was invited to Darmstadt to join the artists' colony. In Darmstadt, Behrens built his own house in which he designed every component, from structure down to cutlery. He designed the house specifically for the Darmstadt 1901 Exhibition. It incorporated both arts and crafts and jugendstil influences in an individualistic way that points to his later work. It received general praise, and was published in "Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration". In 1902 Behrens designed the German entrance hall at the Turin Exhibition, with rectilinear furniture covered with leath