The Art of Society 1900-1945

The Collection of the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin

The Mies van der Rohe-designed museum reopens with a presentation of the highlights of classic modernism between 1900 and 1945 from the Nationalgalerie's holdings. The paintings and sculptures make for a vivid illustration of various tendencies in the art of the period, with emphases on Expressionism, the Bauhaus, the New Objectivity, and Surrealism. They also document the close ties between art and society in the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, and under National Socialism-from Paula Modersohn-Becker and Edvard Munch to George Grosz and Lotte Laserstein and on to Max Ernst and Salvador Dalí. The catalogue provides complete documentation of the works on view in the exhibition. Introductory essays at the beginning of each section are complemented by explanatory notes on selected major works and brief discussions of special aspects.