Art through the Keyhole

Viewing art through a keyhole: the "Bilderträume" exhibition of Surrealist art at the Neue Nationalgalerie plays with this motif, and posters across the city depict a keyhole against a black backdrop through which your eye glimpses a tantalizing sliver of a Max Ernst, Magritte or Delvaux painting.

Leonor Fini, "Two Women"(1939). ⓒ VG Bild-Kunst Bonn 2009

In the exhibition's publicity materials, the painting chosen to represent its theme, especially its preoccupation with dreams and fantasies, is this one by Leonor Fini, where the viewer's eye is drawn directly to the act of looking through the keyhole. 


The image resonates with viewers because the "Bilderträume" exhibition reveals the private collection of Ulla and Heiner Pietzsch to a museum public in Berlin for the very first time. The Pietzsches, both long-time residents of Berlin, lovingly collected these works over a period of 30 years, focusing on Surrealist artists. They acquired the works not only of the great Surrealists such as Dali and Magritte, but also lesser known artists such as Fini or Kurt Seligmann.


Besides paintings, the collection includes sculptures, photographs, documents and books. Till now, these  were only to be seen in the spectacular Dahlem home of Ulla and Heiner Pietzsch, which the couple planned and built around their beloved collection. Only once before had there been a public viewing: in Dresden, the city where Heiner Pietzsch was born. 


This is an outstanding collection. We see, for instance that Dripping-Painting, a technique we have come to associate with Jackson Pollock, was really the inspiration of Max Ernst, an artist whom the Pietzsches had met in Hannover in the 1970s, and whose works are represented here in greater number than any other single artist. We see, too, a self-portrait by Frida Kahlo, an artist whose works are not included in any major German collection. 


By drawing a line from the European Surrealists to the Abstract Expressionists in New York in the 1950s, the Pietzsch collection shows us how artists in the two traditions drew on each other's ideas. And by including the work of artists such as Leonor Fini, Dorothea Tanning and Meret Oppenheim, it brings to light the work of women artists in the genre, less frequently exhibited. 


In the end, by juxtaposing works from the Pietzsche collection with those in the museum's permanent collection, the exhibition highlights just how perfectly the one could complement and complete the other. 


Here, then, is yet another variation on the meaning of "Bilderträume" (literally, Dreams of Images): Now that the Neue Nationalgalerie might acquire more exhibition space in the Kulturforum once the Gemäldegalerie moves to the Museum Island, could it be dreaming of bringing the brilliant Pietzsche collection into its fold?

Rene Magritte, "The Magician's Apprentice" (1926). ⓒ VG Bild-Kunst Bonn 2009

"Bilderträume" runs till 22 November 2009 at the Neue Nationalgalerie,  Potsdamerstr. 50, 10785 Berlin.  Tickets are 10 EUR (5 Eur reduced price), and audio guides in German and English are available for 5 EUR (3.50 EUR reduced price).  Public transportation: U and S-Bahn: Potsdamer Platz, Bus M48 to Kulturforum or Bus 200 to Potsdamer Platz. More information is at: www.bildertraeume.org