Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Painting & Visual Arts
The arts are fundamental to everything Berlin holds dear, and the sheer scope
of creative activity in the city is astounding. Half the reason Berliners are al-
ways so busy is because of the efforts required to keep up with the ever-chan-
ging cultural kaleidoscope of trends and events. And with a history of interna-
tional excellence in most fields, expectations and standards are always set
high. The city itself provides an iconic setting for a spectrum of visual arts, its
unmistakable presence influencing artists and residents just as it does those
canny visitors who take the time to dive in.
Early Beginnings
Fine art only began to flourish in Berlin in the late 17th century, when self-crowned King
Friedrich I founded the Akademie der Künste (Academy of Arts) in 1696, egged on by court
sculptor Andreas Schlüter. Schlüter repaid the favour with outstanding sculptures, including
the
Great Elector on Horseback,
now in front of Schloss Charlottenburg, and the haunting
masks of dying warriors in the courtyard of today's Deutsches Historisches Museum (German
Historical Museum). Artistic accents in painting were set by Frenchman Antoine Pesne, who
became Friedrich I's court painter in 1710. His main legacy is his elaborate portraits of the
royal family members.
The arts also reached a heyday under Friedrich I's grandson, Friedrich II (Frederick the
Great), who became king in 1740. Friedrich drew heavily on the artistic expertise of his
friend Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff, a student of Pesne, and also amassed a sizeable
collection of works by such French artists as Jean Antoine Watteau.
The coppersmith Emanuel Jury, who cast the Quadrigasculpture atop the Brandenburg
Gate, used his niece as a model for the Goddess Victoria, pilot of the chariot.
The 19th Century
Neoclassicism emerged as a dominant sculptural style in the 19th century. Johann Gottfried
Schadow's
Quadriga
- the horse-drawn chariot atop the Brandenburg Gate - epitomises the
period. Schadow's student Christian Daniel Rauch had a special knack for representing ideal-
ised, classical beauty in a realistic fashion. His most famous work is the 1851 monument of
Frederick the Great on horseback on Unter den Linden.
