The Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection (german: Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg) is an art museum in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

. Its collection of paintings, graphics and sculptures, spanning the period from French

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

, is currently housed in former rooms of the

Egyptian Museum The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum or the Cairo Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display ...

Charlottenburg Charlottenburg () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Prussia, it is best known for Charlottenburg Palace, the la ...

on a ten-year loan. It was founded in 2008, and is part of the National Gallery of Berlin.

The foundation

The works on display are owned by the ''Foundation of the Dieter Scharf Collection in Remembrance of Otto Gerstenberg''. Otto Gerstenberg was an early 20th-century Berlin art collector, whose collection was partly destroyed and partly seized as plunder (ending up in Russian museums) during the war.Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg: Die helle Seite der Nacht
Nicola Kuhn, ''

Der Tagesspiegel ''Der Tagesspiegel'' (meaning ''The Daily Mirror'') is a German daily newspaper. It has regional correspondent offices in Washington D.C. and Potsdam. It is the only major newspaper in the capital to have increased its circulation, now 148,000, ...

'', 11 July 2008. Retrieved 14 September 2010. Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg: Passion für die Fantasie
Gudrun Meyer, '' Focus'', 9 July 2008. Retrieved 14 September 2010. After Gerstenberg's death in 1935, his paintings went to his daughter, Margarete Scharf, who stored most in the bunker of the Nationalgalerie in Berlin during the war. These were taken to the Soviet Union. But some were put in storage and burned in an air raid. The surviving artworks remained in family ownership and were inherited by his grandson, Dieter Scharf.Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg - Surreale Welten
State of Berlin homepage. This collection of

graphics Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of data, as in design and manufacture, ...

was to be the foundation of Scharf's own acquisitions, and in 2000 Scharf's collection was put on display in Berlin under the name "Surreal Worlds".Surreale Welten am alten Schloss
Gabriela Walde, ''

Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter Allg ...

'', 6 July 2008. Retrieved 8 September 2010. Shortly before his death in 2001 he transferred these works to the new Foundation. There is currently a ten-year loan agreement between this foundation and the Berlin State Museums, while the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation has allowed it the use of the East Stüler Building in Charlottenburg.

The building

The Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection is located on Schloßstraße, opposite the present-day

Berggruen Museum The Berggruen Museum (also known as the Berggruen Collection) is a collection of modern art classics in Berlin, which the collector and dealer Heinz Berggruen, in a "gesture of reconciliation", gave to his native city. The most notable artists ...

(in the West Stüler Building). Both buildings are separated from

Charlottenburg Palace Schloss Charlottenburg (Charlottenburg Palace) is a Baroque palace in Berlin, located in Charlottenburg, a district of the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf borough. The palace was built at the end of the 17th century and was greatly expanded during ...

by the Spandau Dam. They originate from designs by the Prussian king

Frederick William IV Frederick William IV (german: Friedrich Wilhelm IV.; 15 October 17952 January 1861), the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia, reigned as King of Prussia from 7 June 1840 to his death on 2 January 1861. Also referred to ...

, implemented by the architect

Friedrich August Stüler Friedrich August Stüler (28 January 1800 – 18 March 1865) was an influential Prussian architect and builder. His masterpiece is the Neues Museum in Berlin, as well as the dome of the triumphal arch of the main portal of the Berliner Schloss. ...

from 1851 to 1859. Both the Stüler Buildings originally served as officer barracks for the Gardes du Corps regiment. The East Building is part of the old Marstall Building (constructed 1855-58 by Wilhelm Drewitz), and together these two housed the Egyptian Museum between 1967 and 2005. From 2005 to 2008 they were renovated for future use by the Scharf-Gerstenberg Museum, under the architectural direction of Gregor Sunder-Plassmann.

The collection

The works inherited by Dieter Scharf from his grandfather's collection include graphics by

Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and e ...

, Hugo, Klinger,

Manet A wireless ad hoc network (WANET) or mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a decentralized type of wireless network. The network is ad hoc because it does not rely on a pre-existing infrastructure, such as routers in wired networks or access point ...

, Meryon and Piranesi. The works by these artists formed the foundation on which Scharf built his own collection of

symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and real ...

and

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

art. Besides paintings by Dalí, Dubuffet, Ernst, Magritte, Masson,

Moreau Moreau may refer to: People *Moreau (surname) Places *Moreau, New York *Moreau River (disambiguation) Music *An alternate name for the band Cousteau, used for the album ''Nova Scotia'' in the United States for legal reasons In fiction *Dr. Mo ...

, Redon,

Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revol ...

and Tanguy, as well as sculptures by Ernst, Laurens, Lipchitz and Tàpies, the key works of the collection are

, following the example set by Gerstenberg. Other artists in the collection include

Baumeister Baumeister is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Alfred Baumeister (1934–2011), American psychologist * Christian Baumeister (born 1971), German cinematographer * Edward Baumeister (1848–1933), American politician ...

, Bellmer, Brauner, Éluard, Ensor, Giacometti, Grosz, Janssen,

Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...

, Léger, Miró, Munch, Oelze, Picabia,

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is kn ...

, Schwitters, Seurat, Tobey, and Wols. The Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection thematically complements the exhibition "Picasso and His Time" in the

located opposite. Some artists, such as Picasso, Klee and Giacometti, are featured in both collections. The Kalabsha Gate and the columns from the ancient Sahure Temple, both owned by the Egyptian Museum, will also be on display in the Scharf-Gerstenberg Museum until the completion of the

Pergamon Museum The Pergamon Museum (; ) is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It was built from 1910 to 1930 by order of German Emperor Wilhelm II according to plans by Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hoffmann in Stripped Class ...

's fourth exhibition wing.Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg
Berlin State Museums.

External links

Homepage of the Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg Berlin State Museums website

Notes

{{authority control Art museums and galleries in Berlin Buildings and structures in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf Art museums established in 2008 2008 establishments in Germany Berlin State Museums Former private collections

The foundation

The building

The collection

Further reading

External links

Notes