Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts: Gerhard Richter makes 100 works available to Nationalgalerie

09.11.2021
Nationalgalerie

Gerhard Richter is making an important selection of 100 works available for the Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts, which forms part of the Nationalgalerie. Works by the artist will be on display in the Neue Nationalgalerie from 2023 onward, and after that in the new building at the Kulturforum.

A long-term loan agreement between the Gerhard Richter Kunststiftung (Gerhard Richter Art Foundation) and the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation) was signed today in Cologne. From the beginning of 2023, forty works and sixty overpainted photographs will be in the curatorial care of the Nationalgalerie. These include individual pieces such as Squatters' House (1989), important glass-and-mirror works such as Mirror, Grey (1991), painting series from later in the artist's oeuvre such as 4900 Colours (2007) and Strip (2013), and abstract works created over the years. The four-part cycle Birkenau (2014) is a central component of the long-term loan program; until the beginning of October, it was displayed in a special exhibition at the Alte Nationalgalerie. Owing to its significance and the eminent importance of its subject matter in the history of Germany, this cycle will be on permanent display at the Kulturforum from 2023 onward, on the premises of the Nationalgalerie of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (National Museums in Berlin).

The works will initially be shown in the Neue Nationalgalerie before moving to a room dedicated to Gerhard Richter on the upper floor of the Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts. Designed by Herzog & de Meuron architects, the latter building is currently under construction.

This will allow Gerhard Richter's works to be presented in a meaningful context alongside the Nationalgalerie collection, and to serve as an ideal complement to the contemporary art owned by the Nationalgalerie and other private loans. The Nationalgalerie will regularly be producing new presentations for this room with the aim of exploring new perspectives on Gerhard Richter's work itself.