Please note the changed opening hours from 16 April 2024. More

Tough Types. Portraits of Ancient Greeks

19.06.2019 to 27.09.2020
Altes Museum

The portrait as a depiction of a real, specific, historical person is one of the key achievements of Greek art. Its influence stretches from the era of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance into the present day, forming the foundations of Western traditions of portraiture. However Greek portraits are not photo-realist depictions conveying the true appearance of an individual, but are rather bound to cultural types, characterising their subjects according to age, social status and affiliations to a particular group. The decisive factors are the prevailing ideals that inform the pictures, the occasion and location of their installation, the qualities of the respective media (statues, reliefs, vases, etc.), as well as the strategic intentions of the individual who commissioned them. Individualising characteristics made the portrait distinctive, but there was no need for them to be true to life. The identity of the subject was given by inscriptions revealing their names.

The exhibition illustrates the evolution of Greek portraiture in the tension between reflecting social ideals and depicting individuals, which in their diverse juxtapositions and combinations offered variegated possibilities for conveying identities. At the same time, the exhibition illuminates various aspects of the context of the ancient world, and how the traditions of Greek portraiture have been handed down through the ages.

The core of the show is made up of 20 outstanding loans from the Glyptothek and the State Collections of Antiquities in Munich, including portrait heads in marble of historically important poets, strategists, philosophers and kings; a historical bronze replica; and an Attic vase with a unique depiction of the poet Sappho. As well as this, there are reconstructive replicas of the famous bronze statues of the Riace Warriors on loan from the Liebieghaus in Frankfurt (until 12. Januar 2020), which will be placed in the rotunda of the Altes Museum, allowing them to enter into a fascinating dialogue with the statues of gods located there. The loans will be complemented and contextualised by sculptures, vases and artisanal objects from the Antikensammlung’s own holdings, which would normally be hidden away in storage. 

Additionally, selected exhibits from the permanent exhibition of the Altes Museum will be incorporated by way of special markers and an explanatory flyer, in order to elucidate further aspects of the topic. This allows visitors to gain a fresh perspective on the permanent exhibition. The focus of the exhibition enables an intensive engagement with questions of conceptions of self, idealised images and projections of identity, which are still relevant today for a broad audience, and continue to influence the production of modern portraiture.  

The exhibition is accompanied by a documentary publication that contextualises the exhibits.

Visitor in the Gemäldegalerie
© Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / Fabian Fröhlich
Portrait of Alexander the Great
© Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek München / Renate Kühling

Am Lustgarten
10178 Berlin

wheelchair accessible
Full access for persons with mobility impairment is possible via the service entrance (please ask for porter for assistance).

Until 17.8.2018, the building will only have one functioning lift, with an entrance width of 80cm.

U-Bahn: Museumsinsel (U5)
S-Bahn: Friedrichstraße, Hackescher Markt
Tram: Am Kupfergraben, Hackescher Markt
Bus: Staatsoper, Lustgarte, Friedrichstraße

Low-carbon public transport connections
Local traffic
Long distance

Sun 10:00 - 18:00
Mon closed
Tue 10:00 - 18:00
Wed 10:00 - 18:00
Thu 10:00 - 18:00
Fri 10:00 - 18:00
Sat 10:00 - 18:00

Opening times on public holidays Opening Hours

Altes Museum
10,00 EUR Concessions 5,00
Buy ticket

Museum Island + Panorama
19,00 EUR Concessions 9,50
all exhibitions
Buy ticket


Annual membership Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

from just 25,00 EUR

Annual Passes for the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Tel 030 - 266 42 42 42 (Mon - Fri, 9 am - 4 pm)
Questions | Bookings | Feedback