En­joy­ing art in the Al­te Na­tio­nal­ga­le­rie: The Scharf Coll­ec­tion

The ex­hi­bi­ti­on “The Scharf Coll­ec­tion: Go­ya — Mo­net — Cé­zan­ne — Bon­nard — Gros­se” at the Al­te Na­tio­nal­ga­le­rie of­fers a com­pre­hen­si­ve in­sight in­to one of the most im­portant Ger­man pri­va­te coll­ec­tions for the first time. In an ex­tra­or­di­na­ry pan­ora­ma of around 150 works, the show spans the spec­trum from Go­ya and French Rea­lism to Im­pres­sio­nism, Cu­bism and con­tem­po­ra­ry art. Re­now­ned mas­ters such as Re­noir, Bon­nard, De­gas and Mo­net are re­pre­sen­ted, as well as an im­pres­si­ve com­ple­te coll­ec­tion of Hen­ri de Tou­lou­se-Lautrec’s prints. It is par­ti­cu­lar­ly re­mar­kab­le how the Scharf fa­mi­ly has brought tog­e­ther im­portant works by in­ter­na­tio­nal ar­tists over se­ve­ral ge­ne­ra­ti­ons and con­ti­nuous­ly de­ve­lo­ped the coll­ec­tion.

The ex­hi­bi­ti­on not on­ly traces the art-his­to­ri­cal de­ve­lo­p­ment, but al­so sheds light on the eventful histo­ry of the coll­ec­tion. What on­ce be­gan wi­th the be­gin­nings of mo­der­nism at Ot­to Gers­ten­berg was sa­ved th­rough the turm­oil of war, ex­pan­ded and con­ti­nues to­day wi­th works by ar­tists such as Sam Fran­cis, Sean Scul­ly, Da­ni­el Rich­ter and Ka­tha­ri­na Gros­se. The Scharf fa­mi­ly is thus wri­ting a uni­que chap­ter in the histo­ry of the Ger­man coll­ec­tion, which vi­si­tors can now dis­co­ver for the first time on this sca­le.