In 1936, my grandfather Hermann Radzyk painted a yellow wheat field with a man sitting in it.

His signature “Hermann Radzig-Radzyk” fits on this strip.

This small painting survived thanks to his wife Helene Radzyk-Putensen – my grandmother.

Picture by Hermann Radzig-Radzyk 1912 (My grandmother was then 33 years old).

Let me tell you the story that my grandparents’ daughter Marion, my mother, told me more than 30 years ago:

My grandfather sometimes did not like the proportions of his paintings. He would then cut the sides off to improve the proportions. From the painting of the man in the wheat field he kept on cutting off the sides, until he ended up with the small strip. At this point, my grandmother took the painting away from her husband and said: “Well, now there is nothing left to cut off from this painting. I would like to keep it now as a memento.” What a sign of love.

And this is, how the painting strip with the man in the wheat field survived. I had it framed. It hangs in my guest room.

Whenever I see the strip, I think of my grandmother Helene who truly loved her husband Hermann, my grandfather. Love in the marriage, this is what my grandparents handed on to their daughter, my mother, and after that to us, the granddaughters. We all lived or live happy marriages, what a wonderful legacy.