Top Event
Art between Politics and Society, 1945-1990
Hardly any other era was so marked by division, rupture and transformation as the time after the Second World War. In light of this, the Neue Nationalgalerie is very deliberately showing its new collection display of post-1945 art under the title Extreme Tension.
Image gallery
Wolfgang Mattheuer, Brasker Landschaft, Detail, 1967
Katharina Sieverding, Schlachtfeld Deutschland, XI/78, 1978
Taking the radical performance Zerreißprobe (Stress Test) by Günter Brus as its point of departure, the Neue Nationalgalerie shows how dramatically post-war art was shaped by the tensions that existed between politics and society.
The presentation features key works from West and East Germany, Western Europe and the USA, and unpacks central artistic and societal themes from the 20th century, such as issues related to realism and abstraction, politics and society, everyday life and pop culture, feminism or nature and ecology.
On display are works from the Art Informel movement and American Colour Field painting, from Pop Art and Minimalism, as well as the Conceptual Art of figures such as Josef Albers, Joseph Beuys, Francis Bacon, Lee Bontecou, Rebecca Horn, Valie Export, Bruce Naumann, Wolfgang Mattheuer, Louise Nevelson, Gerhard Richter, Bridget Riley or Willi Sitte.
The presentation will also spotlight a number of works and artists that have recently been added into the collection.
- Curated by Joachim Jäger, Marta Smolińska and Maike Steinkamp
- A special exhibition by the Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Additional information
Price info: Richter / Reigl. special exhibitions lower level
Price: €8.00
Reduced price: €4.00
