In Venice, more than 40 works from Berlin's Berggruen Museum will dialogue with masterpieces from the Gallerie dellAccademia

From March 24 to June 23, 2024, it will be possible to visit at the Gallerie dell’Accademia and at the Casa dei Tre Oci in Venice new home of the Berggruen Institute Europe, reopened for the first time to the public after restoration, the exhibition that brings together a selection of paintings and drawings from the Berggruen Museum in Berlin. The exhibition, titled Elective Affinities, features more than 40 works by Picasso, Matisse, Klee, Giacometti and Cézanne that will dialogue with Giorgione, Sebastiano Ricci, Pietro Longhi, Giambattista Tiepolo and Canova, masterpieces from the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice. The exhibition is curated by Giulio Manieri Elia and Michele Tavola, director and curator of the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice, and Gabriel Montua and Veronika Rudorfer director and curator of Museum Berggruen in Berlin. In 2000, the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz (Prussian Cultural Heritage) succeeded in acquiring Heinz Berggruen’s collection for the Nationalgalerie with funding from the German government and the state of Berlin. The building where the museum is located is currently being restored and will reopen in 2026. It is no coincidence that the title chosen for the exhibition is Elective Affinities to evoke and emphasize the potential that arises from the meeting of these two important collections. The title is inspired by the famous novel by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, a writer who spent several months in Venice during his journey from Germany to Italy.

On the occasion of the opening, two public events will enrich the exhibition’s themes, with simultaneous translation into Italian, at the Casa dei Tre Oci. On March 24, Modernism in Europe and China is scheduled, with Berggruen Institute Europe director Lorenzo Marsili, Annie Cohen-Solal, French historian and Picasso curator, and Zhang Xudong, Chinese philosopher. On March 25, on the other hand, in collaboration with Ca’ Foscari University Venice, there will be a meeting Cosmopolitanism and Universalism with Zhang Xudong and Annie Cohen-Solal giving lectures on the same themes for university students.

Seventeen works from the Berlin museum will be integrated into the permanent itinerary of the Gallerie dell’Accademia, inviting visitors to discover the masterpieces in a sort of treasure hunt. Among the most striking juxtapositions are two absolute masterpieces: the Portrait of Dora Maar made by Picasso juxtaposed with Giorgione’s La Vecchia, very different works but both concerning an intimate relationship with the portrait painter. In addition, two studies by Picasso for Les Demoiselles d’Avignon will be displayed alongside a series of sketches by Tiepolo: while from a formal point of view the differences are enormous, there are many stimuli and interpretations offered to the visitor. The exhibition continues on the island of Giudecca in the Berggruen Institute Europe’s new home at the Casa dei Tre Oci. Four works on paper from the graphic collection of the Gallerie dell’Accademia and 26 from the Museum Berggruen will be on view: watercolors and works on paper by Klee, Picasso, Cézanne and Matisse. The dialogue between works from the two collections is the common thread of the exhibition, allowing visitors to discover them by following their own individual path.

In Venice, more than 40 works from Berlin's Berggruen Museum will dialogue with masterpieces from the Gallerie dellAccademia

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.