Stadtmuseum Berlin on the road

This horse’s head is all that remains of the original Quadriga, the sculpture that sits atop the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. But why did sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow (1764-1850) design the Quadriga in the first place? And what role did Napoleon play in it?

The German-American artist Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956) is a classic of modern art. The Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt am Main is dedicating the first major retrospective in Germany for over 25 years to the painter and graphic artist. A special loan from the painting collection of the Stadtmuseum Berlin is included.

Nearly five hundred silver pieces, including spoons, charm bracelets, children’s rattles and other objects, are stored in a metal cabinet in the Stadtmuseum Berlin’s collection depot. The objects originate from compulsory levies placed on Jewish people from 1939 onwards, and provide insight into a project that the Stadtmuseum Berlin has been carrying out since 1996 to clarify the provenance of each individual object.

The Mauritshuis in The Hague is showing "Loot - 10 Stories", an art project in which the stories of objects from three epochs are brought to life with virtual reality: Art looted by French revolutionaries in 1795, everyday objects taken from Jewish forced levies from 1939 onwards, and colonial looted art. The Stadtmuseum Berlin is represented by three loans: Silver objects formerly owned by Jews, a chest of drawers from the Reichsbank furniture collection and a horse's head from the Quadriga of 1793.

With the exhibition "Hans Baluschek & Carel Willink – Art for the People" (original: Kunst voor het volk) the Museum Arnhem focuses on the Berlin artist Hans Baluschek (1870 – 1935). On display are over 30 paintings and graphics from the large artistic estate, which the Stadtmuseum Berlin has preserved since 1947.

On 15th October 2021, four newly decorated rooms featuring artworks with a focus on civic democratic life in Germany were unveiled at Bellevue Palace, the official residence of the President of Germany. Dr Jan Mende, curator of the Museum Knoblauchhaus, designed the rooms, which include loans from the Stadtmuseum Berlin.