The First Goetheanum Continues to Live Through Our Striving: On the Cupola Painting Project

Keiko Papic

In the summer of 2022, a group of local people (from seventeen to seventy-five years old) gathered together to recreate the painting motifs of the Small Cupola of the First Goetheanum. This was the beginning of our preparation for the centenary of the Christmas Conference. The highlight of this work was attempting to paint the North Side of the Small Cupola motifs using countercolors (as originally intended by Rudolf Steiner),1 a totally new concept for all of us.

According to the book The Goetheanum Motifs of Rudolf Steiner by Peter Stebbing, Rudolf Steiner gave JeanneMarie Bruinior the task of painting the motifs from the North Side of the Small Cupola in counter-colors (not the same as complementary colors), which startled her. Her reply to Steiner was, “I cannot do that, Herr Doktor.” Perhaps the reason she felt it would be impossible was because the gestures of the motifs had to be changed according to the character of the counter-color. For example, Rudolf Steiner painted the Orange Angel and the Indigo Angel with different gestures.

We took up this challenge, even though we knew our efforts may not be successful, because we felt it was important to try to make this effort to honor Rudolf Steiner and to show that after one hundred years, we are still working with him.

This summer, we completed the paintings of the Large Cupola motifs and called people to gather on September 30th:

If the spirit of the Christmas Conference is waiting to be found in your life, join us to let it ring out from the heights

If the spirit of the Christmas Conference is calling forth a new understanding in your soul, join us to ignite the fire of your soul

If the spirit of the Christmas Conference is still resounding in your heart, join us for this prayer

This September 30th event had three parts:

1 See the Note on counter-colors at the end of this article.

1. The Foundation Stone Verses

2. The Statutes of the Anthroposophical Society

3. Rudolf Steiner’s idea on how to finance the Anthroposophical Society and the School of Spiritual Science

This event took place in “a” First Goetheanum, with our paintings as the architecture of the building. Each participant spoke some of Rudolf Steiner’s words from the Christmas Conference, so that together we all could revisit, even in the smallest way, the Christmas Conference of 1923.

As we approach the 100-year anniversary of the Christmas Conference, we hope this event will create interest in people for (re)discovering the significance of the Christmas Conference and strengthen our will with the Power of Michael.

Names of those who contributed to the Cupola Painting Project

Pamela Whitman, Nancy McMahon, Brian Gray, MariJo Rogers, Alice Stamm, Cheryl Martine, Natalie Cargill, Nora Minassian, Soley Dias, Deborah Sternin, Anthony Papic, Alejandra Nunez, Allison Newmann, Michelle Gallardo, Keiko Papic

Note on counter-colors:

Picture a circle of twelve points, with peach blossom color on the top and green on the bottom. These two colors have no counter-color. From peach blossom, going clockwise, we have pale rose, deep rose, red, orange, and yellow. Going counter-clockwise from peach blossom we have pale lilac, deep lilac, violet, indigo, and blue. When you connect left and right points with horizontal lines, you are connecting counter-colors. The countercolor combinations are: pale rose–pale lilac, deep rose–deep lilac, red–violet, orange–indigo, and yellow–blue. More information can be found in the book The Goetheanum Cupola Motifs of Rudolf Steiner by Peter Stebbing.