From February 12th to 18th only the upper floor is open (admission reduced). From 19.2. there is also a special presentation “25 years of the Otto van de Loo donation” on the ground floor.

The exhibition sheds light on Expressionism beyond conventional genre boundaries and shows the mutual influences between painting, graphics and film. It presents around 110 paintings and works on paper together with more than 40 film stills and central sequences from masterpieces of Expressionist film, from “Das Cabinet des dr Caligari” to “Metropolis”. 

As a cultural-revolutionary movement, Expressionism endeavored from the outset to unite art and life and to eliminate the separation of the arts. Multiple talents became the ideal of artists and the total work of art the desired goal. “A PICTURE OF TIME. Expressionism in Film and Art” sheds light on the style beyond conventional genre boundaries and depicts the mutual influences between painting, graphics and film.

In Expressionism, social criticism shines through on the one hand, and ideal and dream images on the other. Distorted images of modern man are discussed, as well as new viewing habits and behavior. In terms of formal aesthetics, the great upheavals of the early 20th century can be found in exaggerated figures, strong contrasts and distorted perspectives. The comparison of different genres brings the picture of this nerve-wracking time to life. After the First World War, film experienced a strong boom in Germany. The films of the Weimar period were mainly made in Berlin. Both the painted and the moving image make it clear how deeply Expressionism was permeated by the crises of its time, and how loudly it gave expression to the rapid social upheavals.

The exhibition was created in cooperation with the Institute for Cultural Exchange in Tübingen. In addition to many loans from private collections and museum collections as well as from the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Foundation in Wiesbaden, a large number of works come from the inventory of the Kunsthalle in Emden. Another station of the exhibition in a slightly different form is the Museum Georg Schäfer, Schweinfurt, in winter 2022/23.

Image: Karl Hofer, Tiller Girls, before 1927, Kunsthalle Emden (c). VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2022

Rudolf Belling, Otto Dix, Lyonel Feininger, Conrad Felixmüller, Arthur Goetz, George Grosz, Erich Heckel, Karl Hofer, Alexander Kanoldt, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Käthe Kollwitz, August Macke, Franz Marc, Ludwig Meidner, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Otto Mueller , Gabriele Münter, Emil Nolde, Hermann Max Pechstein, Christian Rohlfs, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Martel Schwichtenberg

The cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Director: Robert Wiene, Screenplay: Carl Mayer and Hans Janowitz, 1921).

The Golem as he came into the world (Director: Paul Wegener, Screenplay: Paul Wegener, 1921)

Metropolis (Director: Fritz Lang, Screenplay: Thea von Harbou, 1927)

Nosferatu, a symphony of horror (Director: Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, Screenplay: Henrik Galeen, 1921).

The films are kindly made available by the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation.