Käthe Kollwitz goes to the cinema

We commemorate an artist whose view of the world was shaped by deep empathy and social awareness.

Yet Käthe Kollwitz’s life and times cannot be fully understood through drawings and prints alone. The cinema of the 1920s and early 1930s also tells of the upheavals, hopes, and tensions that surrounded her.

As part of our current special exhibition “Käthe Kollwitz and the Theater,” the Käthe Kollwitz Museum Berlin, in collaboration with the Deutsche Kinemathek and the Bundesplatz-Kino, invites you to a special cinematic weekend: Under the title “Käthe Kollwitz Goes to the Movies,” we will screen four films at the Bundesplatz-Kino on April 25 and 26, 2026, that Käthe Kollwitz is known to have known and appreciated.

The program offers a new perspective on the artist—as an attentive witness to her time, including the early days of cinema.

Admission is 10 euros per film and person.

With *Ich glaub’ nie mehr an eine Frau* (1930), *Battleship Potemkin* (1925), *Das Blumenwunder* (1926), and *Der Weg ins Leben* (1931), the film program brings together works that reflect this era in various ways. Two of these films also bear a special personal connection: they feature Maria Matray, a niece of Käthe Kollwitz.

Thus, the films not only provide a historical context but also reveal a surprisingly immediate connection—between artistic creation, family ties, and the moving images of an era that also shaped Kollwitz. We invite you to rediscover these connections: in the exhibition, in the film program, and through mindful viewing.

Each screening will be preceded by a brief introduction by Dr. Annette Seeler, guest curator of the special exhibition at the Käthe Kollwitz Museum Berlin.