- "Success proves relevance" - run by Caspar David Friedrich
The rush for Caspar David Friedrich has brought great success to the Old National Gallery in Berlin. According to the museum, nearly 298,000 people visited the special exhibition "Caspar David Friedrich. Infinite Landscapes" on Museum Island, which has been running since April. Due to the high demand for the works of the German Romantic painter Friedrich (1774–1840), the opening hours were extended several times.
Scholz and Merkel among the Romanticist
Ralph Gleis, director of the Old National Gallery, expressed satisfaction with the "enormous public interest". Among the visitors were Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, his predecessor Angela Merkel, Federal Commissioner for Culture Claudia Roth, and Saxony-Anhalt's Minister President Reiner Haseloff.
The exhibition also attracted many museum colleagues, scientists, and Caspar David Friedrich experts from around the world, such as from the USA, Japan, Norway, or Italy. Contemporary artists like Julie Mehretu, Leiko Ikemura, Thomas Demand, and Mark Grotjahn also stopped by. "The public success proves the enduring relevance of this important artist for the present," said Gleis.
"Monk by the Sea" and "Chalk Cliffs on Rügen"
In Hamburg, Friedrich attracted around 335,000 people at the beginning of the year. Another exhibition is taking place in Dresden. The Berlin exhibition is part of a series of thematically independent shows celebrating the anniversary in the Hamburger Kunsthalle, the Old National Gallery, and the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. The three institutions hold the most significant collections of Friedrich's works worldwide.
In Hamburg, the focus was on the painter in relation to modern art, Berlin concentrated on Friedrich's work and oeuvre, and in Dresden, the Albertinum and Kupferstich-Kabinett took a look at "Where it all began".
Besides the famous pair of paintings "Monk by the Sea" (1808-1810) and "Abbey in the Oak Wood" (1809-1810), Berlin displayed well-known works like "The Sea of Ice" (1823/24), "Chalk Cliffs on Rügen" (1818/1819), or "Stages of Life" (1834). In total, more than 60 paintings and 50 drawings from Germany and abroad were shown in cooperation with the Kupferstichkabinett of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.
Introducing the German Romantic to the US audience
In the following year, the participating institutions will also lend works to New York, where the Metropolitan Museum plans to introduce the German Romanticist Friedrich to the US audience from February to May 2025.
The upcoming exhibition in New York will introduce the German Romanticist Caspar David Friedrich to a US audience, following the successful exhibition in Berlin. Visitors to Dresden can also explore a similar exhibition, as part of a series celebrating Friedrich's works in various cities, including Hamburg and Berlin's Old National Gallery, and the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.
