Artist Lisa Schoefer travels throughout Europe, brush and canvas in hand, to paint buildings and places that bore witness to the EU’s democratic development.
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00:00Lisa Schöffer is in Berlin, painting remnants of the Berlin Wall.
00:04The former barricade is slowly taking shape on her canvas.
00:08For five years now, the painter from southern Germany has been travelling across Europe
00:11with her palette and canvas, painting symbols of democracy.
00:20I got the idea during the Brexit negotiations and from the crisis in Europe in general,
00:26the political shift to the right five years ago, and I thought it was time to preserve
00:31the beauty of democratic structures, make reminders of how many changes there have been
00:37in the last centuries, how much it's been fought for and what we really shouldn't lose
00:42today through populism and lack of consideration.
00:48And in Paris, she's working on the July Column, the monument on the Place de la Bastille that
00:52commemorates the French Revolution.
00:55The blue sky enhances the memorial and the modern opera house behind it.
01:04I need to see if I can give the Bastille Opera enough space because the column is so tall,
01:11so I can get the pillar in without the Bastille Opera just disappearing behind it.
01:16It's a bit of a struggle to get the dimensions right.
01:19Otherwise the weather's good, the light's good and the wind's okay.
01:23Many passers-by look on as Lisa paints and often engage her in conversation.
01:31There are still people interested in freedom and human rights.
01:34It's important these values are portrayed in art and shown in public.
01:40Lisa's works are being shown for the first time in France at an exhibition in the Orangerie
01:44of the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris.
01:49They're images of European structures from different periods, like Hamburg Castle or
01:56the National Assembly in Paris, immortalized by Lisa in oil.
02:03I thought it was important to show people how buildings and mentalities have changed
02:07since empires and kingdoms.
02:09Opulence has given way to transparency and simplicity.
02:15The buildings are more accessible, which you can really see in Berlin's government quarter.
02:20People are being invited to take part in what politicians are doing.
02:24That's very different from the way it was before.
02:27It takes her four or five days for a painting, and capturing some structures can be a challenge.
02:34The light on the Brandenburg Gate in the afternoon is fantastic.
02:38It casts an amazing shadow.
02:40Then I realized there weren't many people in the picture.
02:43On the two evenings I painted, there were very few people there.
02:47And then I went back on International Women's Day with the demonstrations.
02:51I found that really meaningful for Germany.
02:55All of the pictures have one thing in common.
02:57They were painted right at the scene.
03:04It's completely different when you're on site.
03:06You have to let the place in, the mood, the lighting.
03:10It never comes across like that in a photograph.
03:13Above all, you have to feel it.
03:15And you need this time, these days, these hours that I spend there, to really pick up
03:19on the feeling of the place.
03:26In my homeland of Argentina, democracy wasn't a given for me.
03:30I like how this concept is being portrayed here in a very specific way, with the help
03:35of painting.
03:39The Senate in Paris set up the exhibition.
03:42The artist painted its building two years ago, after getting special permission.
03:51The Senate is a wonderful historical building.
03:54But it's also a contemporary workplace, because this is where laws are made today.
04:00We must never be allowed to forget how fragile our democracy is.
04:04The artist, with her symbolic works, shows how threatened this is, and makes it clear
04:10what to watch out for.
04:16Former German President Christian Wolff has bought two of her paintings, which he's put
04:19on loan for the exhibitions.
04:23His office manager tells us why he thinks that's important.
04:29For one thing, it offers many people an opportunity to see the paintings, to reflect on what democracy
04:34actually means for them personally.
04:37How beautiful is democracy?
04:39It's a feast for the eyes.
04:42Lisa Schoeffer now wishes not just she, but also her paintings will travel around Europe,
04:47inspiring thought for as many people as possible.