Press Release Berlin, 24 April 2008 Collection Scharf-Gerstenberg / National Gallery Schloßstraße 70, 14059 Berlin Visit at the building site Collection Scharf-Gerstenberg Seite 1 von 4 "Surreal Worlds" National Museums in Berlin The 10 July 2008 will mark the National Museums in Berlin's opening of the General head office Collection Scharf-Gerstenberg in a ceremony attended by Bernd Neumann, Stauffenbergstraße 41 Minister of State. 10785 Berlin From 11 July 2008, the Collection Scharf-Gerstenberg is exhibiting Head of department Press - Communication - excellent works by the Surrealists and their forerunners. Paintings, Sponsoring sculptures and works on paper are being exhibited on three floors under Dr. Matthias Henkel the title "Surreal Worlds". The spectrum of artists ranges from Piranesi, kommunikation@ Goya, Klinger and Redon to Dalí, Magritte, Max Ernst and Dubuffet. The smb.spk-berlin.de opening of the Collection Scharf-Gerstenberg opposite the Museum Berggruen will see the creation of a new cluster of museums in Press enquiries Charlottenburg dedicated to classical modernism. Dipl. phil. Anne Schäfer-Junker a.schaefer-junker@ smb.spk-berlin.de The collection Fon +49(0)30-266-2629 The history of fantastical art is traced in more than 250 works. Surrealism, Fax +49(0)30-266-2995 a movement seeking to renew art whose principles were proclaimed in a manifesto by André Breton in the Paris of 1924, is at the centre of the www.smb.museum collection. www.smb.museum/presse Nearly all members of the group of Surrealists are represented by selected works in the collection. There are larger groups of works, in particular, by René Magritte, Max Ernst and Hans Bellmer, but also by Wols and Paul Klee. The central pictorial strategies of Surrealism, such as combinatorics, metamorphosis and pure psychic automatism are illustrated by numerous virtuoso examples. Surrealism has its place in a significant line of tradition in occidental art. The earliest works in the collection include Piranesi's illustrations of fantastical dungeon architecture as well as the nightmarish ghostly figures in Goya's etchings. French Symbolism of the late 19th century is represented by paintings of Odilon Redon and Gustave Moreau, as is its German counterpart in the form of graphic cycles of Max Klinger. The spectrum of art on exhibit is augmented by a film programme which includes both the classic surrealist films of Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí as well as films by contemporary artists who draw upon Surrealism or use its formal instruments in their work. The National Museums in Berlin are a institution of the Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage Press Release History of the collection The Collection Scharf-Gerstenberg presents the holdings of the "Stiftung Sammlung Dieter Scharf zur Erinnerung an Otto Gerstenberg", the foundation of the Dieter Scharf collection in remembrance of Otto Gerstenberg. The starting point lies in the collection gathered together by Otto Gerstenberg (1848-1935) in Berlin around 1910. He compiled one of Seite 2 von 4 the largest collections of painting and graphic art of his time, covering a broad range of periods from the Old Masters to Impressionism. National Museums Otto Gerstenberg's passion for collecting art was continued by his in Berlin grandsons Walter Scharf (1923-1996) and Dieter Scharf (1926-2001). The General head office latter took over the graphic cycles by Piranesi, Goya and Klinger as a Stauffenbergstraße 41 founding stock for his own collection which focuses on the fantastic and the 10785 Berlin surreal. With great determination and consistency, he assembled an Head of department outstanding collection which, shortly before his death, he converted into a Press - Communication - foundation which was to present its holdings on a permanent basis in Sponsoring Berlin. Dr. Matthias Henkel In 2000, the collection was exhibited with great success under the title kommunikation@ "Surreale Welten (Surreal Worlds) in the New National Gallery. A ten-year smb.spk-berlin.de loan contract thereafter secured the collection for the National Museums in Press enquiries Berlin. With its thematic focus, the collection represents an ideal Dipl. phil. Anne Schäfer-Junker supplement to "Picasso and his time”, the exhibition on show in the a.schaefer-junker@ Museum Berggruen located opposite. With this additional highlight, the smb.spk-berlin.de museums in Charlottenburg become a centre for the art of the early 20th century. Fon +49(0)30-266-2629 Fax +49(0)30-266-2995 Museum ensemble Charlottenburg - the architecture www.smb.museum www.smb.museum/presse The Scharf-Gerstenberg collection will be housed in the building erected in the 1850s by the architect Friedrich August Stüler and located opposite Charlottenburg Palace. Between 1967 and 2005, the buildings, originally designed in 1851 for the horses, coaches and life guards of King Wilhelm IV, were used by the Egyptian Museum until it moved back to the Museum Island. The conversion of the buildings for the presentation of the Scharf- Gerstenberg collection was carried out according to plans by the architectural offices of Sunder-Plassmann. As a new addition to the building, the architectural office of Sunder-Plassmann have designed a generously glazed entrance area with a café. In this way, the courtyard wedged between the Collection Scharf-Gerstenberg, the Museum of Local History (Heimatmuseum Charlottenburg), the Plaster Cast Collection (Abguss-Sammlung Antiker Plastik), and the Natural Science Collections can be experienced as a new kind of urban architectural ensemble. The National Museums in Berlin are a institution of the Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage Press Release The future concept for exhibitions The entire ‘Surreal Worlds' collection will be put on display to mark the occasion of the opening of the new house in July 2008. And visitors will be able to enter the Collection Scharf-Gerstenberg through the new entrance in the gap between the two parts of the historical building. As well as the individual exhibits, a looped sequence of films will also be Seite 3 von 4 shown on repeat in the Sahure Hall. Such classics of Surrealist cinema as ‘Un Chien Andalou' by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí will be shown alongside selected films by contemporary artists. National Museums in Berlin The Kalabsha Gate and the ancient columns from Sahure's temple will General head office remain where they are in the east wing of the building, designed by Stauffenbergstraße 41 Friedrich August Stüler, until the completion of the renovations still taking 10785 Berlin place in the Pergamon Museum on the Museum Island. Upon entering, visitors to the collection will be greeted by the gate to the Kalabsha Temple Head of department as they cross over to what used to be the royal stables. Press - Communication - Sponsoring In 1963 German archaeologists saved the Nubian Kalabsha Temple from Dr. Matthias Henkel flooding during the Aswan dam proJect. Eight years later Germany in return kommunikation@ received the monumental gate as a token of the Egyptians' gratitude. The smb.spk-berlin.de sandstone blocks from the gate, which stem from the time of around 20 BC were originally found in the temple's foundations, after having already Press enquiries been used in another construction. Once in Berlin the gate was Dipl. phil. Anne Schäfer-Junker a.schaefer-junker@ reconstructed in its original form. Its monumentality creates the perfect smb.spk-berlin.de frame for the long walk to the stables and the Collection Scharf- Gerstenberg itself. Fon +49(0)30-266-2629 Fax +49(0)30-266-2995 The architectural components of the Temple of Sahure themselves have an equally eventful tale to tell. Excavations by a contingent of Germans took www.smb.museum place in Abusir from as early as 1902 to 1908. Although the Pyramid of www.smb.museum/presse King Sahure, dating from around 2400 BC, was found to be in a bad state of repair, the temple complex on the other hand was largely in tact. When the finds were divided up between Germany and Egypt, a large part of the temple columns and architrave found their way to Berlin. And since the 1980s these have then been housed in the Sahure Hall, designed especially to accommodate them. Now when combined with the obJects on display from the Collection Scharf-Gerstenberg, the Egyptian architectural exhibits have become a surreal element in their own right. Catalogue Two special publications on the ‘Surreal Worlds' collection will be produced to commemorate the opening of the museum. The catalogue of the collection, published by Nicolai, will contain numerous essays from renowned experts of Surrealist art and will be interspersed with large- format colour prints of the works, explaining not only the history and structure of the Collection Scharf-Gerstenberg, but also analyzing the chief proponents of the Surrealist movement. A selection of around 80 main The National Museums in Berlin are a institution of the Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage Press Release works from the Collection Scharf-Gerstenberg will also appear in a second book, which will be brought out by the Prestel publishing house in their series of museum guides. Shop There will also be a museum shop in the entrance foyer to the Collection Seite 4 von 4 Scharf-Gerstenberg. As well as selling the museum's own exhibition catalogues, further literature on the artists and the themes covered in the ‘Surreal Worlds' collection will also be available. National Museums in Berlin General head office Stauffenbergstraße 41 Café 10785 Berlin The café in the Collection Scharf-Gerstenberg will interlock the outside with the museum's interior. Clearly visible from Schloßstraße and the opposing Head of department museums, the café will form a new centre to the cluster of museums in the Press - Communication - Sponsoring area. The glass front which often leaves the café awash in light can be Dr.