Painter SOPHIE VON HELLERMANN's stunning, 17-meter-high mural for the staircase of Künstlerhaus Hanover depicts key scenes from the city's history. Among the individuals shown are George V (King of Hanover), Sophie von der Pfalz (the artist’s namesake), and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, with portraits painted directly onto the wall without preliminary tracings.

This volume chronicles von Hellermann's expansive work as part of the "Steps to Art" project series in 2017–18. It includes excerpts from poetic letters exchanged between the Princess and the scholar Leibniz, documents that the artist drew on for inspiration when preparing this monumental work.

"Steps to Art" is a series of projects by the Lower Saxony Foundation and the Hanover Art Association, which presents specially developed projects for the staircase in the East Wing of the Künstlerhaus.