The Berlinische Galerie is a museum of modern art, photography and architecture in Berlin. It is located in Kreuzberg, on Alte Jakobstraße, not far from the Jewish Museum. The Berlinische Galerie collects art created in Berlin since 1870 with a regional and international focus. Since September 2010, the museum's director has been the art historian Thomas Köhler, until then deputy director, succeeding Jörn Merkert.[1]
The Berlinische Galerie was founded in 1975[2] as a society devoted to exhibiting art from Berlin. For the first few years it was based in an office in Charlottenburg, and its exhibitions were displayed at the Akademie der Künste and the New National Gallery among others. In 1978 the Galerie moved into a former Landwehr officers' mess (now the Museum of Photography) on Jebensstraße, near Zoo Station. In 1986 it moved again, into the Martin-Gropius-Bau. In 1994 the collection became a public-law foundation.
In 1998 the Berlinische Galerie had to leave the Martin-Gropius-Bau due to reconstruction. After six years without a permanent home, it opened in its new location, in former industrial premises in Kreuzberg, in 2004. Built in 1965, the current building was originally a glass warehouse,[2] and took the Galerie a year to renovate. The museum reopened again in 2015 following a €6 million refurbishment that mainly involved updating the museum's security and technical equipment.[3]
The Berlinische Galerie collects art created in Berlin from the end of the 19th century (since 1870) to the present. The collection is interdisciplinary. Painting, sculpture, installation and media art, graphic art, photography, architecture and the documentary estates of artists are among the holdings.[4] The collection consists of five collection areas: Fine Arts, Prints and Drawings, Photography, Architecture and Artists' Archives.[5]
The Fine Arts Collection contains around 5000 objects. Among them are works by prominent artists such as Max Beckmann, Hannah Höch, Naum Gabo, Georg Baselitz, Wolf Vostell, Ursula Sax and John Bock. Works by numerous artist groups are also represented, e.g. the Berlin Secession, Dada Berlin, the Eastern European avant-gardes, the Neue Wilde and the young art scene after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The Golden Twenties form a focal point.[4]
The collection Prints and Drawings comprises around 15,000 sheets, including prints and above all drawings. The works represent the diversity of art historical developments in Berlin: from Dada Berlin, late Expressionism from 1914, the Eastern European avant-garde of the 1920s to New Objectivity, New Figuration of the 1960s, East Berlin art since the construction and fall of the Wall, and contemporary drawing.[4]
With around 73,000 photographs, the photographic collection is one of the most important in Germany. In addition to portrait, architectural and urban photography, the focus is also on advertising and fashion photography, photojournalistic works, photomontages, photograms and photographic concept works. A special feature is the artistic photography of the GDR. The museum also promotes contemporary Berlin photography through continuous and extensive acquisitions.[4]
The architecture collection comprises around 300,000 plans, 80,000 photographs, 4,000 design cartons for stained glass and mosaics, 2,500 models and around 800 metres of file material from estates, competitions and archives. The materials document Berlin's urban planning and architecture from 1900 to the present.[4]
The collection preserves documentary material on artists, artist groups, gallery owners and art scholars (including the Art Nouveau artist Fidus, the November Group, the Ferdinand Möller Gallery and the sculptors Naum Gabo and Hans Uhlmann). A special focus is the extensive archive holdings on the Berlin DADA movement consisting of the estates of Hannah Höch and Raoul Hausmann.[4]
On the upper floor, the museum's permanent exhibition entitled Art in Berlin 1880–1980 presents a selection of the main works in its collection from the fields of painting, graphic art, sculpture, photography and architecture in chronological order on more than 1,000 m2 (11,000 sq ft), updated by discoveries and new acquisitions.[6] In October 2020, the tour of the collection was fundamentally renewed and presents art from the painting of the imperial period at the end of the 19th century to works of Expressionism, the Eastern European avant-garde, the architecture of post-war modernism and the Heftige Malerei of the 1970s.[4]
The special exhibition programme on the ground floor ranges from classical modernism to contemporary art in Berlin. These are complemented by series of events with films, concerts, artist talks, curator tours and lectures.[4]
2019/2020: Original Bauhaus. The centenary exhibition (a cooperation project with the Bauhaus Archive Berlin, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus)[36]
For over 45 years, the Friends have been supported by around 1700 members (as of 2023), who support the work of the museum primarily financially. This also includes the members of "Jung und Artig", the circle of young friends. In addition to free museum admission, they receive special tours, studio visits, excursions and previews.[47]
