He is regarded as one of the pioneers of modern architecture. In the s, Mies was the last director of the Bauhaus , a ground-breaking school of modernist art, design and architecture. Mies sought to establish his own particular architectural style that could represent modern times. His buildings made use of modern materials such as industrial steel and plate glass to define interior spaces. He is often associated with his fondness for the aphorisms " less is more " and " God is in the details ".
Mies was born March 27, , in Aachen , Germany. He worked alongside Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius , who was later also involved in the development of the Bauhaus.
Ludwig Mies renamed himself as part of his transformation from a tradesman's son to an architect working with Berlin's cultural elite, adding "van der" and his mother's maiden name "Rohe" [ 7 ] [ 8 ] and using the Dutch "van der", because the German form " von " was a nobiliary particle legally restricted to those of German nobility lineage.
During his military service in , Mies fathered a son out of wedlock. In , Mies began a relationship with designer Lilly Reich that ended when he moved to the United States ; from until his death, artist Lora Marx β was his primary companion. Mies carried on a romantic relationship with sculptor and art collector Mary Callery for whom he designed an artist's studio in Huntington , Long Island, New York. This exhibition took place from October 15 until November 8, , with their romance officially ending not much later.
Nevertheless they remained on good terms, spending Easter together in at a modern farmhouse renovated by Mies on Long Island, as well as meeting several more times that year. After World War I , while still designing traditional neoclassical homes, Mies began a parallel experimental effort. He joined his avant-garde peers in the long-running search for a new style that would be suitable for the modern industrial age.
