16.08.2016
Alte Nationalgalerie
An exhibition presented by the City Museum of Wrocław in collaboration with the Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
18 September 2016 – 15 January 2017
The Royal Palace of the City Museum of Wrocław
The exhibition "Painted Masterpieces of the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin from the Wagener Collection" in the Royal Palace of the City Museum of Wrocław shows nearly 70 paintings from the collection of the Berlin banker and founder of the Nationalgalerie, Joachim Heinrich Wilhelm Wagener. Beginning in 1815 and lasting for over 40 years, Wagener assembled what was then the world's largest collection of contemporary painting, bequeathing it to the Prussian king. His donation led to the founding of the Nationalgalerie in 1861, which 15 years later led to the opening of a specially built museum on Museum Island, today known as the Alte Nationalgalerie. This exhibition will present the centrepieces of the Wagener collection, which range from Romanticism to the Biedermeier era, while even incorporating more realist styles. The rooms of the exhibition are separated thematically, displaying architectural depictions, Romantic landscapes, history paintings, genre paintings, and still lifes. The exhibition gives a clear impression of Wagener's impact as a patron and supporter of both the national and international art of his time. Overall, the works he collected give a comprehensive picture of painting in the first half of the 19th century.