Gemäldegalerie

Gemäldegalerie, art museum in Berlin possessing one of the top collections of European paintings from the 13th to 18th century. It is one of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (National Museums of Berlin). Together with the Kunstgewerbemuseum (“Museum of Decorative Arts”), the Kunstbibliothek (“Art Library”), the Kupferstichkabinett (“Museum of Prints and Drawings”), the Neues Nationalgalerie (“New National Gallery”), and the Musikinstrumenten-Museum (“Museum of Musical Instruments”), the Gemäldegalerie is located in the Kulturforum.

(Read Sister Wendy’s Britannica essay on art appreciation.)

The Gemäldegalerie first opened in 1830 as part of the Royal Museum, with its core holdings coming from the collections of Frederick William and Frederick the Great. But the extraordinarily high calibre of the museum’s collection came largely through the efforts of gallery director Wilhelm von Bode, who oversaw acquisitions from 1890 to 1929, greatly boosting the museum’s collection and stature. Much of the building and more than 400 large paintings were destroyed during World War II, and the collection was subsequently divided between East and West Berlin. In 1998 the entire collection was reunited in a new building specifically designed to house these paintings.

(Read Glenn Lowry’s Britannica essay on "Art Museums & Their Digital Future.")

On display are some of Europe’s finest masterpieces, which represent every important period spanning five centuries. Major artists include Jan van Eyck, Raphael, Johannes Vermeer, Peter Paul Rubens, Caravaggio, and many others. Two dominant displays showcase Italian painting from the 13th to 16th century and Netherlandish painting from the 15th to 16th century. German masters from the Gothic through Renaissance period include Konrad Witz, Albrecht Dürer, Hans Baldung-Grien, Lucas Cranach, and Hans Holbein the Younger. Paintings by Rembrandt are displayed separately in an octagonal room.