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"But art it is"

At the new museum location of the Käthe Kollwitz Museum Berlin at Charlottenburg Palace, the museum presents works by the artist under the Kollwitz quote „Aber Kunst ist es doch“("But art it is").


Käthe Kollwitz (1867 - 1945) herself once issued the motto: "I want to have an impact in this time". Many works by the world-famous artist are still anchored in people's pictorial memory today as indictments of social ills and admonitions against war and violence.

Despite her declared intention to achieve a broad impact with her prints, Käthe Kollwitz always saw herself first and foremost as an artist. She was primarily concerned with creating artistically sophisticated works. A love of experimentation and a great talent for finding images characterize the work of this accomplished draftswoman. Her path to the completed work was characterized by slow working, numerous attempts to find motifs and a constant change of printing techniques.

She questioned her work self-critically and compared it with contemporary works by colleagues. A diary entry about her own works would have stated in December 1922: "But art [it is] after all."

Under this leitmotif, the Berlin Kollwitz Museum's new permanent exhibition examines, first with its own holdings and later alternating with loans, the artistic quality of the works of a graphic artist and sculptor who was far too often reduced to her political and social impact.
The museum will initially present almost 100 works by Käthe Kollwitz in the theater building at the Charlottenburg Palace on an exhibition area of 235 square meters. From 2024, the permanent exhibition will be even more extensive when the exhibition space doubles.

PRIVATE COLLECTION MEETS MUSEUM COLLECTION

Beginning in March 2023, the Käthe Kollwitz Museum will present the first of three temporary interventions in the collection presentation, for which outstanding prints by Käthe Kollwitz will be loaned from two private collections.

The three interventions enrich the general overview of the work and are dedicated to the themes "Mother and Child," "Discarded Versions on the Cycle War," and "Simplicissimus.
Additional information
Opening hours:
Monday - Sunday, 11-18
closed on 24.12 and 31.12.2022

Accessibility

The new museum location of the Käthe Kollwitz Museum offers more accessibility. You can find more information here.
Dates
October 2024
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