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bis 24.01. | #0209ARTatBerlin | The exhibition “The Botticelli Renaissance” is presented from 24th September 2015 at Gemäldegalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and from 5th March 2016 to 3rd July 2016 at Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
An exhibition in the Gemäldegalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – in partnership with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
The Florentine painter Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) is considered one of the most important artists of the Renaissance. Countless reproductions have been made of his works, with some creators adding a slant or “modern touch”, resulting in a work that has acquired a momentum and trajectory in its own right. Many of these re-workings are so removed from the originals that Botticelli has become a household name and can be used as a touchstone for fashion and lifestyle without any mention being made of his paintings. Products are named after him, popular-culture personalities allude to his motifs in fashioning their own image, and some of the characters portrayed in his works – particularly his “Venus” – are now firmly embedded in collective awareness.
Yet our apparent familiarity with his opus was not inevitable. Sandro Botticelli was largely forgotten after his death, only to be rediscovered around 1800. From the mid-19th century onwards the Pre-Raphaelite movement in England and the
associated admiration of Botticelli were instrumental in the artist’s resurgence, which caught the imagination of increasing numbers of artists and a steadily growing public. Since then, Botticelli’s work has been subject to wildly different interpretations and poses numerous questions. How did the artist come to be so famous? How did he get to be a pop
icon? Why are his paintings considered timeless and “European”, to the extent that they even feature on Euro coins? One thing is certain: few old masters can equal Botticelli as a source of inspiration for modern art and present-day artists.
The exhibition, which includes more than forty original works, explores a touching story of appropriation and appreciation that began in the early 19th century and continues to this day. For the first time ever, Sandro Botticelli’s works are presented in the context of subsequent interpretations and paraphrases. The 130 works on show will include many masterpieces of European art and important works on loan from the great collections of the world. Among them represented are Dante
Gabriele Rossetti, Edward Burne-Jones, René Magritte, Elsa Schiaparelli, Andy Warhol und Bill Viola. The exhibition also features drawings, photographs, videos, fashion and design objects.
The visual aspect of the exhibition is largely a reflection of the partnership between the Gemäldegalerie and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Since the beginning of Botticelli’s comeback in the early years of the 19th century Berlin has possessed a significant number of the master’s works. The largest collection of Botticellis outside of the painter’s own city of Florence
has always been housed in the Gemäldegalerie of the Staatliche – formerly Königliche – Museen zu Berlin, founded in 1830. So it was that the Gemäldegalerie came to be a driving force in the Botticelli “renaissance” in the decades that followed, and this was pivotal to the decision by Michael Eissenhauer, Director General of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, to use the Gemäldegalerie as the exhibition venue: “With its 8 paintings and 86 drawings, the assemblage of Botticelli works
in Berlin is the largest outside of Italy. Which venue could be more suited than the Gemäldegalerie to mounting a major exhibition dedicated to this particular artist and his reception in the art world?” Martin Roth, Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum: ”We are delighted to be working in partnership on this innovative re-examination of Botticelli’s work, which is only possible by sharing the resources, creativity and expertise of both partners. Next to the Gemäldegalerie’s finest collections of Renaissance paintings the V&A has equally renowned collections of art and design, providing the broader context and
understanding of Botticelli as a design phenomenon in the present day.”
The exhibition is supported by Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe, LOTTOStiftung Berlin and the Kaiser Friedrich-Museums-Verein.
The Italienisches Kulturinstitut Berlin assisted in the production of the catalogue and is liaising with the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin on the design and realisation of the parallel programme of events.
Tickets and group tours can be purchased online at www.botticelli-renaissance.de/tickets-und-fuehrungen.
Exhibtion period: Thursday, 24th September 2015 to Sunday, 24th January 2016
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The shown artwork “Mary with Child and Singing Angels” by Sandro Botticelli you can find here in our category Masterpieces combinded with detailed explanations.
Botticelli Renaissance – Gemäldegalerie – Ehibition in Berlin ART@Berlin
