The biggest art collection you’ve ever seen spans 10,000km but fits into the ground floor of Gropius Bau in Mitte. Confused? We’ll explain: from now until 09.01.2022, six international museums are offering up works from the world’s most iconic artists for a one-of-a-kind exhibition in partnership with the Ludwig Foundation collection. As its title suggests, the collection of art in The Cool and the Cold: Painting in the USA and the USSR 1960–1990 spans three decades of the Cold War and the entire ground floor of Gropius Bau. Rather than curating retrospectively as is typical of historical shows like this, Peter and Irene Ludwig’s collection was actually acquired during the period of time it explores. This enriches the teachings and stories you experience throughout the exhibition.

This Cold War era saw forms of artistic expression develop that dealt with attitudes about politics, social reform, nuclear war and other fears. One question arises continually: are there differences between the ways USA and USSR paintings expressed these feelings and, if so, how are these contrasts presented? Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Natalia Nesterova and Erik Bulatov plus 76 other names feature in the show, which extends to 120 paintings. Crucially, you can understand the artworks within the cultural context of this feverish era. The venue itself, which sits on the site the Berlin Wall and overlooks government buildings and the Topography of Terror, reminds us of the importance of artistic expression during the era and allows us to appreciate contemporary privileges and struggles.

Text: Rosie Gilmour / Credit: Estate of Roy Lichtenstein, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020; Kunstmuseum Basel, Leihgabe der Peter und Irene Ludwig Stiftung; Ralph Goings; Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst Aachen / Photos: Kunstmuseum Basel, Martin P. Bühler; mumok – Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien,& Carl Brunn, Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst Aachen

Gropius Bau, Niederkirchnerstr.7, 10963 Berlin–Kreuzberg; map
Wed–Mon, 10–19h

The Cool and the Cold: Painting in the USA and the USSR 1960–1990, until 09.01.2022

You can book tickets online.

@gropiusbau

Draped fabrics, arranged bodies, striking faces – and again and again the color green. Ferdinand Hodler’s paintings hover somewhere between Gustav Klimt and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, yet they have their own distinct mood. The Swiss painter’s time in Berlin at the end of the 19th century is the starting point for the exhibition Ferdinand Hodler and Modernist Berlin, which can be seen at the Berlinische Galerie until 17.01.2022. With 50 paintings from Berlin Secession artists including Lovis Corinth, Walter Leistikow, Hans Thoma, Julie Wolfthorn and Hodler himself, the show demonstrates the artist’s key role in Berlin Modernism. Hodler drew strength from nature and man’s role in it, something made clear in the way images of mountain ranges appear in picnic blankets upon which lightly-clad models lie.

Strong brushstrokes portray dancers and young men; form is at the forefront but not so much that it makes the subjects anonymous. No two faces in his paintings are alike, with each telling a different story. Hodler’s depictions of metaphorical worlds were not well received when they first appeared in Berlin: it took numerous annual exhibitions between 1898 and the First World War before he gained a wide audience. This latest show brings a touch of springtime as the first cold weather arrives. Just the thing, then, for a rainy autumn afternoon.

Text: Hanna Komornitzyk / Credit: Kunsthalle Mannheim, Rainer Diehl; SIK-ISEA, Zürich (Philipp Hitz) / Photo: Harry Schnitger

Berlinische Galerie, Alte Jakobstr.124–128, 10969 Berlin–Kreuzberg; map

Ferdinand Hodler and Modernist Berlin, until 17.01.2022
Wed–Mon 10–18h. You can book tickets online.

@berlinischegalerie