My little sister’s favorite was “The Last Unicorn”, the animated film based on Peter S. Beagle’s novel. For weeks, she performed her own interpretation of the title song in her bedroom, and my parents had to put the VHS tape in the VCR again and again. The enchanting story of the mythical creature had completely captivated us. We weren’t the only ones back then, and we certainly aren’t today (in fact, we haven’t been for centuries). Unicorns have always enchanted those who pay attention to them, feeding the stories woven around them. The exhibition “Unicorn. The Mythical Beast in Art” at the Museum Barberini takes this remarkable career seriously, tracing the unicorn’s path through culture. Around 150 works and objects are on display, from travelogues describing unicorn sightings to medieval altarpieces and contemporary positions.
The unicorn appears as a Christian symbol of purity and chosenness, as a miracle cure, or as a wild, untameable animal. Paintings by Maerten de Vos (imposing), Titian (classical), and Arnold Böcklin (creepy) meet works by Magritte (domestic), Marie Cécile Thijs (realistic), and Olaf Nicolai (emo). My personal favorite is Wild Man on a Unicorn from 1473–1477 (wonderfully eccentric). Manuscripts, tapestries, sculptures, video works, and cabinet-of-curiosities objects show how the unicorn has oscillated between belief, science, and projection. Even the famous “unicorn horn” exposed as a narwhal tooth in the 17th century did nothing to diminish its fascination. What remains, ultimately, is a creature that never existed. Hovering somewhere between myth, pop culture, and longing, the exhibition presents the unicorn not as a fairy-tale figure, but as a mirror of cultural fantasies. The film from my childhood is just one version of this. This exhibition offers many others.
Text: Inga Krumme / Credit: Italian (Veneto) Virgin with Unicorn, ca. 1510, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet (Master of the Housebook), Wild Man on a Unicorn, 1473–77, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Olaf Nicolai La Lotta, 2006, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2025
Museum Barberini, Humboldtstr. 5-6, 14467 Potsdam; map
“Unicorn. The Mythical Beast in Art” until 01.02.2026
@museumbarberini
