A collection of Old Masters is planned to be "evicted" from the Berlin Gemäldegalerie

A heated debate erupted in the German press over plans to move the collection of Old Masters’ paintings from the Gemäldegalerie gallery to the Bode Museum. Some analysts fear that as a result of such a move, many great works of art will simply disappear from the field of view of museum visitors. German art historians, restorers and journalists are unanimous in their criticism of the Gemäldegalerie leadership’s plans to “clean up” the area for the display of contemporary art.

But the gallery’s leadership decision has influential supporters, including Thomas Campbell, director of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. In an open letter to The Art Newspaper, Campbell writes that this decision is “courageous, logical, and absolutely right.” “It makes sense to free up the art gallery for an exhibition of 20th century art. Moving the collection of old masters to the Bode Museum on Museum Island will allow the great story about visual culture from ancient times to the 19th century to be completely in sight, ”Campbell continues.

The Gemäldegalerie Art Gallery has one of the best collections of European art in the world dating from the 13th to 18th centuries. She has three thousand paintings, including the works of Van Eyck, Dürer, Raphael, Caravaggio, Rubens, Vermeer, 16 paintings by Rembrandt. In mid-June, the German federal government allocated 10 million euros for the release of a plan to create a gallery of contemporary art of the 20th century in the Gemäldegalerie and the neighboring gallery on Potsdamer Platz. The impetus for this was the donation of a large collection of works in the style of surrealism and impressionism at the end of 2010. The total value of the collection is more than 150 million euros. It includes the work of such masters as Dali, Miro, Rothko. A donation was made on the condition that the collection be exhibited at the Gemäldegalerie.

But the Gemäldegalerie Square, which they plan to close for overhaul in 2016, cannot accommodate all the exhibits. Therefore, it was decided that part of the collection of paintings by the Old Masters from Gemäldegalerie will move to the Bode Museum, and the rest will be deposited in the museum’s storerooms.

The public reaction to this decision was paradoxical. If after the Second World War all artists were in favor of moving the precious Gemäldegalerie collections to their historical place on Museum Island, now sharply opposed opinions are being expressed. This is due to the fact that the building of the Bode Museum is in poor condition. Jeffrey Hamburger, professor of German art and culture at Harvard University, says: “In Berlin, the total cost of unfinished projects for the reconstruction of various objects is about 1.5 billion euros. And while it is planned to allocate about 200 million euros for the reconstruction of the Bode Museum. Although we all know very well that not one of the projects is fully funded on time. I’m not against moving the Old Masters collection to Museum Island, I’m much more concerned about how and when it will be done. ” The German Association of Restorers and Art Critics has also criticized the storage conditions for artwork that exist today at the Bode Museum.

The management of Gemäldegalerie assured the public that the move would not take place until a plan for the reconstruction of the building on Museum Island was agreed. Estimated timelines for such a decision have not yet been announced.

Anna Sidorova