From Max Ernst to Dorothea Tanning: Networks of Surrealism

Provenances from the Ulla and Heiner Pietzsch Collection

A century after the first “Surrealist Manifesto” (1924), the exhibition provides new insights into the extensive networks of artists, art dealers and collectors in this international, early 20th-century art movement.

Dorothea Tanning, Spannung, Detail, 1942, Schenkung Sammlung Ulla und Heiner Pietzsch an das Land Berlin 2010

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The starting point for the presentation was a two-year research project of the Federal State of Berlin and the Stiftung Preußicher Kulturbesitz (SPK, Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation) investigating provenances of works from the Ulla and Heiner Pietzsch Collection, which now belongs to the Neue Nationalgalerie. The exhibition traces the eventful journeys of these paintings and sculptures across space and time ‒ from Paris, the Surrealist movement’s place of origin, to Brussels and other European cities, across the National Socialist era and the Second World War, to South America as well as into exile in the United States. The object biographies of the individual works tell of friendships, collecting passions and industry connections, as well as from loss, persecution and new beginnings. Beyond the histories of the individual artworks, they elucidate the Surrealist movement’s multifaceted networks and the political challenges of the times.

The exhibition is funded by the Federal State of Berlin.

Highlight: Diese Schau ist eine der Top-Ausstellungen 2025 in Berlin. 

Runtime: Fri, 26/09/2025 to Sun, 25/01/2026

Takes place here:

• Neue Nationalgalerie

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