9783865025159_Extreme_Tension

NEUE NATIONALGALERIE 

Extreme Tension 

Art between Politics 

and Society 1945 – 2000 

E. A. SEEMANN


Art between Politics 

and Society 

The Nationalgalerie 

Collection 

1945 – 2000 

For the Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 

edited by Joachim Jäger, Marta Smolińska 

and Maike Steinkamp 

E. A. SEEMANN

CONTENTS

6 Foreword 

Klaus Biesenbach 

8 Extreme Tension: Art between Politics 

and Society 1945 – 2000 

Joachim Jäger, Marta Smolińska, 

Maike Steinkamp 

26 Abstraction / Figuration 

36 Socialist Realism 

50 Abstraction as a Universal Language? 

168 Battlefield Germany 

176 Nature / Culture 

182 Art as Environmental Protection – 

Agnes Denes 

204 Analogue Systems 

210 The Computer as a Medium – 

Horst Bartnig 

220 From the Factory 

72 Existential Experiences 

80 Response to the Fears of the World – 

Wifredo Lam 

224 Shouting to the Point of Exhaustion 

238 An Unjustly Forgotten Conceptual 

Artist – Bernadette Bour 

88 The Performative Image 

100 Feminist and Embodied Painting – 

Carolee Schneemann 

244 Freeing the Body 

252 Feminist Interventions in Socialism – 

Ewa Partum 

104 Everyday Life Becomes Art 

108 Expansion of the Pictorial Space – 

Lucio Fontana 

122 Sweet Wall 

128 Pop and Propaganda 

136 “Pop”-Propaganda – Willi Sitte 

148 A More Beautiful Life 

158 An Uncanny World of Things – 

Konrad Klapheck 

166 Hair 

266 Extreme Tension 

270 Fluid Identities 

286 Rebellious Self-Stagings – 

Sarah Lucas 

292 List of Works 

301 Image Credits 

303 Acknowledgements

FOREWORD 

6 

Yoko Ono 

Cut Piece 

1964/65

The Neue Nationalgalerie is home to the art of the twentieth century. The Nationalgalerie’s 

extensive and many-faceted collection is closely linked to Germany’s and 

Europe’s contemporary history. Berlin in particular has always been at the centre of 

social and political events. Already in our previous presentation of the collection, with its 

focus on classical modernism, the theme was The Art of Society. This new presentation 

is devoted to art after 1945 and once again places it in relationship to the social and 

political developments of the time. Here, Extreme Tension, the title of Günter Brus’s 

radical 1970 performance, serves as the guiding theme. 

Performance, film and video grew considerably in importance from 1960 onwards. 

Key works such as Freeing the Body by Marina Abramović, Semiotics of the 

Kitchen by Martha Rosler or Unicorn by Rebecca Horn therefore form part of 

the new presentation. The importance of remembering central performances 

is demonstrated by the re-presentation of Yoko Ono’s Cut Piece at the Neue 

Nationalgalerie in September 2023, which was created in close consultation 

with the artist. There was great public interest in the performance, thanks to 

its continued relevance today. Simultaneously, the museum showed a historical 

video of the performance from 1964, which we have now integrated into the 

new collection display. 

Our main goal is to present the art of the twentieth century in the greatest 

possible variety and diversity. We have succeeded in substantially increasing 

to 25 percent the proportion of women artists shown. For now, some of 

their works complement the presentation as loans. We intend to permanently 

incorporate them into the collection, so far as it is possible to do so. In this 

sense, the presentation is also an essential step toward the creation of “ Berlin 

Modern” – our new museum expansion, which, together with the glass and 

steel building by Mies van der Rohe, will present the art of the twentieth century 

in all its complexity and diversity. 

Sincere thanks are due to the curators Joachim Jäger, Marta Smolińska and 

Maike Steinkamp, and to the entire team of the Neue Nationalgalerie and the 

Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart. We also want to extend 

our heartfelt thanks to the many partners from outside the Nationalgalerie, 

the graphic designers from Any Studio, the E. A. Seemann Verlag and especially 

the artists and their estates for their friendly and close cooperation. 

Klaus Biesenbach 

Director 

7

EXTREME TENSION 

ART BETWEEN POLITICS 

AND SOCIETY 

1945 – 2000 

Joachim Jäger, Marta Smolińska, Maike Steinkamp 

The art of the second half of the twentieth century is characterised by great 

contradictions and an enormous variety of media and artistic strategies. At 

the same time, scarcely any other age has been so marked by division and turmoil, 

and also by renewal. The aftermath of Holocaust and war, the subsequent 

spirit of optimism, liberation movements and the Cold War led not only to social 

friction but also to fundamental realignments in the visual arts. The exhibition 

Extreme Tension: Art between Politics and Society 1945 – 2000 shows central 

works from the collection of the Nationalgalerie from 1945 to the turn of the 

millennium. The title Extreme Tension refers to the radical 1970 performance by 

Viennese Actionist Günter Brus, in which he not only pushed himself to his own 

physical limits, but at the same time pointed at the intense tensions permeating 

society, politics and art. It was the age of the Cold War, with its ideological 

confrontations between East and West, between abstraction and figuration, 

between traditional art genres and new artistic techniques and media. In 

this exhibition, the term “extreme tension” stands for the radical departures 

and upheavals in post-war art. Borrowing the words of French philosopher Paul 

Ricœur, it serves as a “living” metaphor, one that allows meaning to emerge. 

Through it, opposing phenomena enter into productive tension with each other, 

defy their literal meanings and question established categories. 1 

8

The exhibition is a continuation of the previous presentation of the collection, 

which focused on the first half of the twentieth century and – in the context 

of political, historical and social phenomena – questioned the classical narrative 

of the history of modern art. 2 The point of departure for both exhibitions is 

the Nationalgalerie’s unique collection, which was, in turn, significantly shaped 

by the historical conditions in a divided Germany. Not only does the collection 

reveal the different ideas of art and the different political value systems 

that emerged internationally after the Second World War, but at the same time 

it makes visible the history of an institution that existed in both East and West 

Germany. With the end of the Second World War and the founding of the two 

German states in 1949, a dual collection structure started to take form. From 

then on, the collections in East and West Berlin grew and developed independent 

of each other, each subject to its own side’s political conditions, guidelines 

and strategies. 

Andy Warhol 

Hammer and Sickle 

1976 

9

DIVIDED HISTORY / DIVIDED COLLECTION 

Shortly after the war ended, however, it still looked like there was a common 

path. In 1946 Ludwig Justi was appointed director of the former Staatliche 

Museen zu Berlin (Berlin State Museums), which included the Nationalgalerie 

(National Gallery). Justi had already directed the Nationalgalerie from 1909 to 

1933 but was removed from office when the National Socialists came to power 

in 1933. The collection of modern art he assembled was almost entirely broken 

up through the “Degenerate Art” confiscations of 1937. 3 After 1945, Justi 

re-established the tradition of a modern art collection. Together with Adolf 

Jannasch he developed plans for a new “gallery of the twentieth century”. 4 Yet 

the attempt failed in 1949 due to the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany 

(West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), and the 

resulting division of Berlin. The Nationalgalerie’s building was located on the 

Museum Island in the Soviet sector of the city, now East Berlin, but it only held 

part of the collection. Many objects had been moved to West Germany during 

the war; these found their way back to West Berlin during the 1950s. At the 

same time, also in the West, Adolf Jannasch continued to pursue the idea of 

a “gallery of the twentieth century”. As its director, he had acquired over 

150 works of art by 1954. Central to his collecting activities was, on the one 

hand, making amends to the artists who the Nazis had defamed as “degenerate” 

and, on the other hand, representing the ‘living connection between the art 

of our time and our culture as a whole’. 5 He wanted to open the collection to 

contemporary art – understood as the contemporary art of the West. In 1967, 

Jannasch’s “gallery of the twentieth century” was merged with the holdings of 

the Nationalgalerie that had remained in the West. 6 In 1968, this part of the 

collection found its home in the Neue Nationalgalerie, built by Ludwig Mies van 

der Rohe. Its opening on 15 September 1968 was a widely visible signal. Finally, 

West Berlin could pride itself on a prestigious museum and exhibition building. 

While West Berlin continued to strive to establish a “gallery of the twentieth 

century”, in the eastern part of the city, Justi gradually had to abandon the idea 

in light of a GDR art policy oriented towards Socialist Realism. The works of 

contemporary art that Justi had acquired in the first post-war years entered 

the holdings of the Nationalgalerie on the Museum Island, which had been 

reopening in sections since June 1949, but under the restrictive art doctrine of 

the early 1950s the works could not be displayed. 7 Later the original Nationalgalerie 

building would be entirely devoted to the art of the nineteenth century, 

with works from the twentieth century moved into the neighbouring Altes 

10

11 

Zofia Kulik 

KwieKulik: Marx Now 

1983

social disunity. In dealing with the collection, this “extreme tension” ultimately 

includes not only political issues, but also the question of the degree to which 

certain ideas or ideologies obstruct or restrict the view of art – a question 

that we must continuously ask. In this respect, the collection of the Nationalgalerie 

reveals a particular inner complexity that distinguishes it from many 

other European museums. The encounter of such fundamentally different artistic 

positions and approaches is unique. Highlighting these contrasts and this 

diversity is a crucial concern of the exhibition. 

22

23 

Barbara Kruger 

Untitled (My People Are 

Better than Your People) 

1994/2016

The Soviet Union blocks all 

access roads to West Berlin. 

Children observe the landing 

manoeuvre of a so-called 

Raisin Bomber of the Allies 

at Tempelhof Airport, which 

supplies West Berlin with food. 

1948 

Liberation of the Vaihingen 

concentration camp near Strasbourg 

1945 

28

View of the destroyed city centre 

of Warsaw after the bombardment 

by German troops at the end of the 

Second World War 

1945 

Division of Germany after 

the Second World War by the 

victorious powers 

1945 

29

Wilhelm Lachnit 

Manikin 

1948 

32

Victor Brauner 

Figures at the Beach 

1955 

Leonora Carrington 

Ladies Run, There Is a Man 

in the Rose Garden 

1948 

33

SOCIALIST 

REALISM 

Horst Strempel’s work Clear the 

Rubble … Rebuild! in the Berlin 

train station on Friedrichstraße. 

The mural is already painted 

over in 1951. 

1948 

36

art, there is a call for a forward-looking, 

realist form of 

expression in the model of the 

Socialist Realism that was already 

mandated in the Soviet Union 

since 1934. 

The escalation of the Cold War 

and Germany’s division in 1949 

into two separate countries – 

the Federal Republic of Germany 

in the West and the German Democratic 

Republic in the 

East – have a direct influence on 

art. Already in the years preceding 

this division, cultural policy in 

the Soviet-occupied zone, later 

East Germany, has a stronger 

socialist orientation. This is also 

true for the Eastern European 

republics forming concurrently, 

such as Poland and Hungary. In 

Socialist Realism follows an easily 

understandable visual programme 

with subject matter consistent 

with socialism’s political goals. 

Expressive and abstract tendencies 

are increasingly rejected as 

formalist, bourgeois and decadent. 

In the “formalism debate” 

of the years 1948 to 1953 there 

are tenacious disputes in East 

Germany about the direction of 

art. The formalism debate even 

affects artists who hold a positive 

view of East German politics. 

Horst Strempel, for example, 

sees his mural Clear the Rubble … 

Rebuild!, painted in 1948 in the 

Berlin train station at Friedrichstrasse 

and highly acclaimed at 

the time, painted over in February 

1951. Even Fritz Cremer’s portrait 

of the miner Franz Franik (fig. 

p. 41), depicted so realistically and 

37

US-American nuclear tests: 

underwater detonation 

of a nuclear weapon in the 

Pacific Bikini Atoll 

1946 

74 

French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre 

is considered the leading exponent 

of existentialism. His main work 

Being and Nothingness is published 

in 1943. 

Around 1947

Stones against tanks: the 

East German Uprising of 17 June. 

Two young men throw paving 

stones at a Soviet tank on 

Leipziger Straße in East Berlin. 

1953 

Helene Weigel performing in 

Mother Courage and Her Children 

at the Deutsches Theater, East 

Berlin. The production is 

exemplary for Bertolt Brecht’s 

concept of epic theatre. 

1949 

Korean War: a child stands 

between two tanks destroyed 

by the North Korean army in 

a South Korean village. 

1951 

75

FEMINIST 

AND EMBODIED 

PAINTING – CAROLEE 

SCHNEEMANN 

In the 1970s Carolee Schneemann 

reacts to male-dominated 

abstract expressionism with a 

series of feminist performances. 

Within this art movement, artists 

focus on the painterly gesture, 

often with reference to Surrealism. 

Schneemann’s Up to and 

Including Her Limits is a key performance 

from these years. 

The artist performs it nine times 

between 1971 and 1976. In it, she 

hangs naked from a tree-climbing 

harness and draws lines on the 

surfaces around her. During the 

100

Carolee Schneemann 

Up to and Including 

Her Limits 

1976 

101

Tadeusz Kantor 

Infanta 

1966 

104

EVERYDAY LIFE 

BECOMES ART 

The 1950s are marked by a robust economic boom in Western 

Europe and the USA. More and more goods and products 

appear on the market, are used and disposed of, creating 

a throwaway society. The many things with which people, especially 

in the cities, surround themselves, also change the way 

culture is understood. Whether in theatre, music or the visual 

arts, increasing numbers of artists seek ways to integrate 

the everyday world into their work. 

In Italy, Lucio Fontana cuts up his canvases. The seemingly 

harmless cut through the middle of the canvas actually represents 

a radical stress test for art. Suddenly the image becomes 

an object. Beginning in New York and Paris, and soon in many 

other cities, artists begin to take an interest in used everyday 

objects. They visit flea markets, collecting discarded objects and 

integrating them into their art. In Pink Door (1954), for example, 

Robert Rauschenberg combines a paper collage with the door 

of a chicken coop. In Paris, Jean Tinguely builds machines from 

rusty metal. In Dusseldorf, Otto Piene works with fire. In Italy, 

Carol Rama incorporates old, cut-up bicycle tyres into her paintings, 

and in Spain, Antoni Tàpies uses earth and cement. Tadeusz 

Kantor in Poland glues an old leather bag to a canvas. The heavily 

worn things in these artworks irritate. Some call them anti-art. 

In fact, the young artists are interested in directing our gaze to 

the aesthetics of everyday life. 

105

Andy Warhol 

Double Elvis 

1963 

132

133 

Keiichi Tanaami 

Good-by Marilyn 

1971

“POP”- 

PROPAGANDA – 

WILLI SITTE 

Pop Art is frowned upon in East 

Germany because of its orientation 

towards the capitalist world 

of commodities. Nevertheless, 

mass media finds its way into the 

arts’ visual language not only in 

East Germany, but also in the 

Soviet Union and other socialist 

states. The painter Willi Sitte, who 

lives in Halle, knows Pop Art well 

from his many visits to countries 

in the West. As a celebrated and 

privileged East German state 

artist, he has permission to 

travel there, unlike most of his 

136

137 

Willi Sitte in front of his 

painting Leuna 1969 at the 

exhibition Architecture and Fine 

Arts in Berlin on the occasion 

of the twentieth anniversary 

of the founding of the GDR 

1969

Renato Guttuso 

The Red Cloud 

1966 

142

143 

Yuri Korolev 

Cosmonauts 

1982

ART AS 

ENVIRONMENTAL 

PROTECTION – 

AGNES DENES 

Agnes Denes is a pioneer of 

ecological art and land art. 

From the 1960s, in her frequently 

site-specific art, she investigates 

human influence on the 

environment. In her landscape 

interventions as well as in her 

theoretical-conceptual works, 

Denes uses not only artistic, 

but also scientific, mathematical 

and philosophical methods. 

Her best-known work is Wheatfield 

– A Confrontation: in the 

spring and summer of 1982, she, 

together with volunteers, plants 

182

Agnes Denes 

Rice / Tree / Burial 

1977–79 

183

LIST OF WORKS 

FOREWORD 

Yoko Ono 

Cut Piece 

1964/65 

Performance by Yoko Ono, filmed 

by Albert and David Maysles, 

16 mm film, black and white, 

sound 

8:27 minutes 

Loan from the artist, New York 

City 

EXTREME TENSION: ART BETWEEN 

POLITICS AND SOCIETY 1945 – 2000 

Andy Warhol 

Hammer and Sickle 

1976 

Silkscreen ink, acrylic and 

pencil on canvas 

183.5 × 219.5 cm 

Nationalgalerie, Marx Collection 

Zofia Kulik 

KwieKulik: Marx Now 

1983 

Super 8 mm film, transferred 

to video 

5:47 minutes 

Loan from Persons Project, 

Berlin 

Dara Birnbaum 

Technology/Transformation: 

Wonder Woman 

1978/79 

Video, colour, sound 

5:50 minutes 

Loan from Dara Birnbaum and 

Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), 

New York City 

Barbara Kruger 

Untitled (My People Are Better 

than Your People) 

1994/2016 

Digital print on vinyl 

304.8 × 251.5 cm 

2022 acquisition from Sprüth 

Magers, Berlin, by the Freunde 

der Nationalgalerie, made 

possible by the estate of 

Marianne Schmidt 

292 

ABSTRACTION / FIGURATION 

Max Ernst 

Young Man, Troubled by the 

Flight of a Non-Euclidean Fly 

1942/47 

Oil and varnish on canvas 

82 × 66 cm 

2010 donation of the Ulla and 

Heiner Pietzsch Collection 

to the Land Berlin for the 

Nationalgalerie 

Wilhelm Lachnit 

Manikin 

1948 

Oil and tempera on plywood 

75 × 110 cm 

1979 acquisition from Helene 

Lachnit, Dresden, for the 

Nationalgalerie (East) 

Victor Brauner 

Figures at the Beach 

1955 

Oil on canvas 

104.8 × 154.6 cm 





Leonora Carrington 

Ladies Run, There Is a Man in 

the Rose Garden 

1948 

Egg tempera on wood 

44.5 × 91.5 cm 





Werner Tübke 

Memoirs of Dr. jur. Schulze 

(III) 

1965 

Tempera on canvas on wood 

188 × 121 cm 

1987 transfer of ownership by 

the Council of the Leipzig 

District to the Nationalgalerie 

(East) 

Harald Metzkes 

The Removal of the Six-Armed 

Goddess 

1956 

Oil on canvas 

121.5 × 160 cm 

1976 acquisition from the artist 

for the Nationalgalerie (East) 

Horst Strempel 

Discussion of the Plan 

1949 

Oil on canvas 

85 × 98 cm 

1966 transfer of ownership from 

the State Bank of the GDR to 

the Nationalgalerie (East) 

Fritz Cremer 

Portrait of Franz Franik (II) 

1954 

Plaster cast 

71.5 × 37 × 33 cm 



Jenny Wiegmann Mucchi 

The Year 1965 

1965 

Cement 

83 × 64 × 82 cm 

1989 acquisition from the 

artist’s estate for the 


René Graetz 

Upright Figure No. 5 

1970 

Bronze 

80 × 32.5 × 21 cm 


artist’s widow, Elizabeth 

Shaw, Berlin (East), for the 


Wieland Förster 

Desperate. In Memory of 13 

February 1945 in Dresden (The 

Death of Dresden) 

1967 

Bronze 

50 × 92 × 35 cm 



Sarkis Muradjan 

My Daughters 

1969 

Oil on canvas 

110 × 90 cm 

Permanent loan from the Ludwig 

Collection, Ludwig Forum für 

Internationale Kunst Aachen, 

loan from the Peter and Irene 

Ludwig Foundation 

Boris Nemensky 

On the Nameless Height 

1961 

Oil on canvas 

135 × 280 cm 

Permanent loan from the Ludwig 

Collection, Ludwig Forum für 

Internationale Kunst Aachen, 

loan from the Peter and Irene 

Ludwig Foundation 

Jean Dubuffet 

The Bear 

1950 

Oil on canvas 

116 × 89 cm 

1988 acquisition from Galerie 

Beyeler, Basel, with support 

of the Land Berlin for the 

Nationalgalerie (West)

Pablo Picasso 

Reclining Woman with Flowers 

1958 

Oil on canvas 

130 × 195 cm 


Michael Hertz, Bremen, for the 

Nationalgalerie (West), Berlin 

Olga Jevrić 

Non-Static Composition 

1969–75 

Iron 

33 × 24 × 25 cm 


artist, Belgrad, by the Land 

Berlin with funds from the 

Deutsche Klassenlotterie for 

the Nationalgalerie (West) 

Maria Lassnig 

Patriotic Family 

1963 

Oil on canvas 

129 × 161.8 cm 

Loan from the Maria Lassnig 

Foundation, Vienna 

Morris Louis 

Beta Zeta 

1960/61 

Acrylic on canvas 

255 × 439 cm 


Neuendorf, Frankfurt, by the 

Freunde der Nationalgalerie for 

the Nationalgalerie 

Hans Hartung 

T1957-15 

1957 

Oil on canvas 

148 × 116 cm 


Großhennig, Dusseldorf, for the 

Nationalgalerie (West) 

Karel Appel 

Encounter of the Worlds 

1958 

Oil on canvas 

250 × 420 cm 

1969 donation of Paolo 

Marinotti, Milan, to the 


Fritz Winter 

Black-and-White (White Dot) 

1955 

Oil on canvas 

135 × 145 cm 


Schüler, Berlin, by the Land 

Berlin for the Galerie des 20. 

Jahrhunderts (West) 

293 

Ernst Wilhelm Nay 

Purple Sound 

1957 

Oil on canvas 

88 × 115 cm 


Michael Hertz, Bremen, for the 


Wols 

Yellow Composition 

Around 1947 

Oil on canvas 

73 × 92 cm 


Beyeler, Basel, by the Land 



the Nationalgalerie (West) 

K.O. Götz 

Painting from 5.2.1953 

1953 

Mixed media on canvas 

125 × 90 cm 


Rothe, Heidelberg, for the 


Willi Baumeister 

Aru 5 

1955 

Oil and resin on hardboard 

185 × 130 cm 




Pierre Soulages 

Peinture 96.5 × 130 cm, 15 mars 

1957 

1957 

Oil on canvas 

96.5 × 130 cm 


Großhennig, Dusseldorf, for the 


Alexander Calder 

The Pendant of the Cagoule 

1954 

Metal, wire, 18 parts 

diameter 400 cm 





Judit Reigl 

Center of Dominance 

1959 

Oil on canvas 

145.5 × 114.5 cm 

2023 donation of the 

Fonds de Dotation Judit 

Reigl, Marcoussis, to the 


Adolph Gottlieb 

Lux Ex Oriente 

1959 

Oil on canvas 

229 × 152.5 cm 

1991 acquisition from the Adolph 

and Esther Gottlieb Foundation 

Inc., New York City, by the Land 



the Nationalgalerie 

Mark Rothko 

Red No. 5 

1961 

Acrylic and oil on canvas 

177.8 × 160 cm 

1967 acquisition by the Land 


Deutsche Klassenlotterie 

for the Galerie des 20. 

Jahrhunderts (West) 

Karl Hartung 

Double Form 

1950 

Bronze 

38 × 18.5 × 19.5 cm 




Max Lachnit 

Fantasy Bird 

1968 

Bronze 

25 × 19.5 × 9.5 cm 

1987 acquisition from Helene 

Lachnit, Dresden, for the 


Reg Butler 

Woman in Stays 

1956 

Bronze 

height 51 cm 


Springer, Berlin (West), by the 

Land Berlin for the Galerie des 

20. Jahrhunderts (West) 

Eduardo Paolozzi 

Town Tower 

1962 

Iron, brass, bronze 

196 × 51 × 40.5 cm 

1975 acquisition from 

Marlborough Fine Art Ltd., 

London, by the Land Berlin 

with funds from the Deutsche 

Klassenlotterie for the 


Hans Arp 

Torso 

1957 (cast 1961) 

Bronze 

92.5 × 59.5 × 41 cm 


d’art moderne, Basel, for the 

Nationalgalerie (West)

IMAGE CREDITS 

© 2023 VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, for the 

reproduced works by: 

Josef Albers, Karel Appel, Arman, 

Bettina von Arnim, Hans Arp, Francis 

Bacon, Willi Baumeister, Lothar 

Baumgarten, Anna and Bernhard Blume, 

Thomas Bayrle, Victor Brauner, KP 

Brehmer, Michael Buthe, Leonora 

Carrington, Carlfriedrich Claus, Emil 

Cimiotti, Fritz Cremer, Hanne 

Darboven, Heinrich Drake, Jean 

Dubuffet, Max Ernst, VALIE EXPORT, 

Lucio Fontana, Wieland Förster, 

Sighard Gille, Domenico Gnoli, Adolph 

Gottlieb, Karl Otto Götz, René 

Graetz, Clemens Gröszer, Renato 

Guttuso, Ulrich Hachulla, Hans 

Haacke, Duane Hanson, Hans Hartung, 

Karl Hartung, Jochen Hiltmann, Nancy 

Holt, Rebecca Horn, Joan Jonas, 

Donald Judd, Jürgen Klauke, Konrad 

Klapheck, Wifredo Lam, Maria Lassnig, 

Richard Long, Morris Louis, Adolf 

Luther, Markus Lüpertz, Barnett 

Newman, Wolfgang Mattheuer, Roberto 

Matta, Mario Merz, Harald Metzkes, 

Jenny Wiegmann Mucchi, Ernst Wilhelm 

Nay, Louise Nevelson, Roman Opałka, 

Meret Oppenheim, Gina Pane, Eduardo 

Paolozzi, Ewa Partum, A. R. Penck, 

Giuseppe Penone, Uwe Pfeifer, Pablo 

Picasso, Otto Piene, Sigmar Polke, 

Núria Quevedo, Robert Rauschenberg, 

Judit Reigl, Ulrike Rosenbach, Mark 

Rothko, Carolee Schneemann, Katharina 

Sieverding, Willi Sitte, Hans-Peter 

Szyszka, Pierre Soulages, Klaus 

Staeck, Volker Stelzmann, Strawalde, 

Horst Strempel, Antoni Tàpies, Hans 

Ticha, Jean Tinguely, Rosemarie 

Trockel, Werner Tübke, Günther Uecker, 

Victor Vasarely, Wolf Vostell, Franz 

Erhard Walther, Tom Wesselmann, Fritz 

Winter 

In accordance with § 60h UrhG, 

the rights for the reproduction of 

images of the exhibits/works in the 

Nationalgalerie Collection 

are asserted by VG Bild-Kunst. 

For the sake of clear attribution, 

the exact position is ascribed in 

case of more than one image per page. 

The abbreviations t. (top), 

b. (bottom), l. (left), c. (centre) 

and r. (right) appear following the 

page number. 

We are very grateful to all 

individuals, institutes and archives 

who have granted permission and 

provided support for the publication 

of this book. The Nationalgalerie 

– Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – has 

made every effort to identify all 

rights holders. If at any point this 

has not been successful, we kindly 

ask you to inform us. 

301 

Image credits for other rights 

holders, lenders and for the 

reference images: 

p. 6 © 1965 Yoko Ono 

S. 9 © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 

Nationalgalerie, Marx Collection / 

photo: Jochen Littkemann / The Andy 

Warhol Foundation for the Visual 

Arts, Inc. / Artist Rights Society 

(ARS), New York 2023 

p. 11 © Archiwum KwieKulik / Courtesy 

of Persons Projects 

p. 14 © Courtesy of Dara Birnbaum 

and Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), 

New York 

p. 19 © Courtesy the artist’s family 

and lokal_30 gallery, Warsaw 

p. 23 © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 

Nationalgalerie / photo: Timo Ohler / 

Courtesy the artist and Sprüth Magers 

p. 28 t. © bpk / Henry Ries 

p. 28 b. © Deutsches Historisches 

Museum / Hugues Hollenstein / photo: 

Marcel Arthaud 

p. 29 t. © bpk 

p. 29 b. © bpk / Deutsches Historisches 

Museum / Indra Desnica 

p. 30 t. © Landesarchiv Baden- 

Württemberg, Staatsarchiv Freiburg, 

W 134 Nr. 048810b / photo: Willy Pragher 

p. 30 b. © Picture-Alliance / Photoshot 

p. 31 t. © Allstar Picture Library 

Limited / Alamy Stock 

p. 31 b. © Archive Image / Alamy Stock 


Nationalgalerie / bpk / Manfred Wenzel 

p. 36 © Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-U1016-520 

p. 38 © Stadtmuseum Berlin / reproduction: 

Oliver Ziebe, Berlin / VG Bild- 

Kunst, Bonn 2023 

p. 39 © Deutsche Fotothek / Erich 

Höhne & Erich Pohl / VG Bild-Kunst, 

Bonn 2023 

pp. 44/45 b. © Boris Nemensky / loan 

from the Peter and Irene Ludwig 

Foundation, Ludwig Forum für 

Internationale Kunst, Aachen 

p. 45 t. © Gohar Muradyan and Zaruhi 

Muradyan / loan from the Peter and 

Irene Ludwig Foundation, Ludwig Forum 

für Internationale Kunst, Aachen 


Nationalgalerie / bpk / photo: Jörg P. 

Anders / Succession Picasso / VG Bild- 

Kunst, Bonn 2023 

p. 49 © Maria Lassnig Foundation / 

VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023 

pp. 50–51 © documenta archiv / photo: 

Günther Becker 

p. 53 t. © documenta archiv 

p. 53 b. © Picture-Alliance / Sammlung 

Richter 

pp. 54–55 © Staatliche Museen zu 

Berlin, Nationalgalerie / bpk / photo: 

Jörg P. Anders / All Rights Reserved. 

Maryland College Institute of Art / 



Nationalgalerie / photo: Andres 

Kilger / Karel Appel Foundation / 


pp. 58/59 © Staatliche Museen zu 

Berlin, Nationalgalerie / photo: David 

von Becker / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023 



Anders / Ernst Wilhelm Nay Stiftung, 

Köln / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023 


Nationalgalerie / Calder Foundation / 

Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York 

2023 


Nationalgalerie / Fonds de dotation 

Judit Reigl / photo: Ph. Boudreaux / 



Nationalgalerie / photo: Roman 

März / Adolph and Esther Gottlieb 

Foundation / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023 



Anders / 1998 Kate Rothko-Prizel & 

Christopher Rothko / VG Bild-Kunst, 

Bonn 2023 


Nationalgalerie / bpk / photo: Werner 

Zellien / Lothar Janus 

p. 70 r. © Staatliche Museen zu 

Berlin, Nationalgalerie / photo: André 

van Linn / Estate of Reg Butler 

p. 70 l. © Staatliche Museen zu 

Berlin, Nationalgalerie / bpk / photo: 

Jörg P. Anders / Trustees of the 

Paolozzi Foundation, licensed by / 


p. 74 t. © bpk 

p. 74 b. © bpk / Fritz Eschen 

p. 75 t. © bpk / Deutsches Historisches 

Museum / Wolfgang Albrecht 

p. 75 b.r. © akg images 

p. 75 b.l. © bpk / Bernd Lohse 


Berlin, Nationalgalerie / photo: Roman 

März / Lee Bontecou 

p. 77 © Museum Berggruen, Staatliche 

Museen zu Berlin / photo: Andreas 

Kilger / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023 

pp. 81–82 © Archives Wifredo Lam, 

Paris / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023 


Museum Berggruen / bpk / photo: Jörg P. 

Anders / The Estate of Francis Bacon. 

All rights reserved / VG Bild-Kunst, 

Bonn 2023 

p. 90 t. © Peter A. Juley & Son 

Collection / Photograph Study 

Collection, Smithsonian American Art 

Museum 

p. 90 b. © Seiko Otsuji / Courtesy of 

Musashino Art University Museum & 

Library, Tokyo Publishing House. From 

the portfolio Kiyoji Otsuji GUTAI 

PHOTOGRAPH 1956–57 

p. 91 © K.O. Götz und Rissa-Stiftung / 

photo: Siegfried Kühl 


Berlin, Nationalgalerie / photo: 

Jörg P. Anders / Barnett Newman 

Foundation / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023 



Jörg P. Anders / Ellsworth Kelly 



Museum MMK für Moderne Kunst, Axel 

Schneider, Frankfurt am Main / Carolee 

Schneemann Foundation / VG Bild- Kunst, 

Bonn 2023

COLOPHON 

This catalogue is published on the occasion 

of the exhibition 


Art between Politics and Society 

The Nationalgalerie Collection 1945 – 2000 

18 November 2023 until 28 September 2025 

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Neue Nationalgalerie 

Exhibition 

Curatorial team: 

Joachim Jäger, Marta Smolińska, Maike Steinkamp 

Coordination: 

Katharina Wippermann 

Assistant curator: 

Jill Praus 

Conservational supervision: 

Hana Streicher, Ella Dudew 

Depot: 

Torsten Neitzel, Paul Markus 

Coordination Hamburger Bahnhof – 

Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart: 

Gabriele Knapstein, Sven Beckstette, 

Catherine Nichols, Johanna Lemke 

Conservational supervision: 

Carolin Bohlmann, Elisa Carl, Leonie Colditz, 

Teresa Donner, Ina Hausmann, Eva Ries, 

Andrea Sartorius 

Depot: 

Jörg Lange, Thomas Seewald 

Media and public relations: 

Fiona Geuß, Mechtild Kronenberg, Fabian Fröhlich, 

Corinna Salmen-Mies 

Education and communication: 

Julia Freiboth, Felicitas Fritsche-Reyrink 

Graphic design for the exhibition: 

Any Studio 

Exhibition architecture: 

Lichtblick Bühnentechnik, liquid paint 

Art handling: 

EMArt 

Media engineering: 

EIDOTECH 

Lighting: 

50 Lux/Victor Kegli 

Audiowalk 

Conception and contents: 

Norbert Lang, Lisa Vera Schwabe 

Narrated by: 

Robin Gooch, Sally Jaber-Hübsch, Imogen Kogge, 

Melanie Schmidli, Mike Trupiano, Marco Wittorf 

Editorial: 

Julia Freiboth, Felicitas Fritsche-Reyrink, 

Andreas Kebelmann 

Translations: 

Delphine Lettau, Claire Schmarz, 

Gegensatz Translation Collective 

Interview partners: 

Students of the Peter-Ustinov-Schule 

and Kastanienbaum-Grundschule, Berlin 

Production and music & sound design: 

Norbert Lang 

Catalogue 

For the Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen 

zu Berlin, edited by Joachim Jäger, 

Marta Smolińska and Maike Steinkamp 

Publication management Staatliche Museen 

zu Berlin: 

Sigrid Wollmeiner, Sarah Hampel 

Editorial: 

Irina Hiebert Grun, Maike Steinkamp 

Image research: 

Irina Hiebert Grun, Holger Niederhausen, 

Jill Praus, Janet Roder 

Project management E. A. Seemann: 

Caroline Keller, Nora Schröder 

Assistance: 

Marla Domdey 

Design and layout: 

Carmen Klaucke, Berlin 

Typesetting: 

Gunnar Driesner, werk + satz., Berlin 

Translations: 

Cynthia Hall, Emily Evans 

Separations: 

Bild1Druck GmbH, Berlin 

Production: 

feingedruckt – print und medien, Neumünster 

Front cover illustration: 

Rebecca Horn, Unicorn, 1970 © Rebecca Horn, 

VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023 (photo: Achim Thode) 

© 2023 Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Preußischer 

Kulturbesitz; the authors; E. A. Seemann Verlag 

in the E. A. Seemann Henschel Verlagsgruppe 

GmbH & Ko. KG, Karl-Tauchnitz-Str. 6, 04107 Leipzig 

www.smb.museum 

www.seemann-henschel.de 

Bibliographic information published by the 

Deutsche Nationalbibliothek 

The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication 

in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; 

detailed bibliographic data is available online at 

http://dnb.dnb.de. 

All rights reserved, in particular the right to 

reproduction, distribution, and translation. No 

part of this publication may be reproduced in any 

form or processed, duplicated, or distributed by 

electronic means without prior written information 

of the publisher. 

ISBN 978-3-86502-515-9 (English ed.) 

ISBN 978-3-86502-514-2 (German ed.)

One of the world’s foremost collections of 

post-1945 art 

The art of the second half of the twentieth century 

is marked by a fundamental reorientation and an 

enormous variety of artistic strategies. It is the era 

of new beginnings and emancipation, of the Cold 

War and the fall of the Berlin Wall. 

The catalogue explores how profoundly the 

tensions between politics and society shaped 

the art after 1945. Here, the clashes between East 

and West, abstraction and figuration, between 

traditional genres and new artistic techniques and 

media become visible. 

While presenting the exceptional depth of the 

Nationalgalerie Collection, this book also serves 

as a striking documentation of the major events 

in contemporary history. 

MARINA ABRAMOVIĆ / FRANCIS BACON / VALIE EXPORT 

REBECCA HORN / DONALD JUDD / BARBARA KRUGER 

WOLFGANG MATTHEUER / A. R. PENCK / BRIDGET RILEY 

PIPILOTTI RIST / WILLI SITTE / ANDY WARHOL and many more

9783865025159_Extreme_Tension

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