08.06.2005 to 28.08.2005
To mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of 'Die Brücke' - the outstanding group of artists of Expressionism - this retrospective presents a first-class selection of about 450 works: paintings, watercolours, drawings, prints, sculptures, glass windows and handicrafts.
Divided into topical sections this exhibition illustrates different facets of the characteristic features of the association. Starting from their cultural criticism trying to overcome the hollow pathos of the official Wilhelminian art by expressing the 'immediate' and 'genuine' (as written in the manifesto of 'Die Brücke' in 1906), the most outstanding members of the group Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Max Pechstein, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and Otto Mueller strived to bring the schemes of life and art into correspondence. This credo is reflected in the vital nude studies of the early Dresden years as well as in the figures marked by the contradictions and bustle of city life typical for the Berlin years.
Fascinated by originality, the artists turned to non-European art and culture, which they modelled their studios on, conceiving them as 'Gesamtkunstwerke'. In this exhibition the visitors can see for the first time a reconstruction of a corner from Kirchner's second Berlin studio, the so called 'tent' with the original embroidered textiles and parts of the contents still preserved.
