A world in chalk

The summer of 2026 is dedicated to pastel art: Over the years, Max Liebermann (1847–1935) created more than a hundred pastels. These were first presented as a distinct body of work by the publisher and art dealer Bruno Cassirer in July 1927, on the occasion of Liebermann’s 80th birthday.

Max Liebermann, Blumenbeet im Wannseegarten mit Blick auf den Fischotterbrunnen, 1919, Pastell auf Velin, Privatbesitz

Since pastel chalks consist almost exclusively of pure color pigments, their luminosity and immediacy are unique. The exhibition is now dedicated to this medium for the first time and demonstrates how deeply the pastel technique—a previously overlooked aspect of his work—shaped Liebermann’s visual language. Join us and Liebermann on a journey from the Dutch coast to the Wannsee Garden.

Even his contemporaries admired him for his artistry:

“[D]elightful […] small […] pastel sketches: a greenish sea with a rain-gray sky and the delicate, so-vivid figures in the background. [The result is] not only softness, but at times a depth and richness of tone that is hardly surpassed by oil paint. And it is downright surprising that [Liebermann] knows how to render even the bright sunlight on such small sheets of paper with this dry chalk dust.”

(Harry David, in: Berliner Tageblatt, 1912)

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