Why go
The most notable artists on display include Pablo Picasso, Giambattista Pittoni, Alberto Giacometti, Georges Braque, Paul Klee and Henri Matisse. The Berggruen Collection is part of the National Gallery of Berlin. History The collection arrived in Berlin in 1996, with Berggruen's return to his native city after six decades in exile.
What to look for
- The modern-art collection is on tour while its Charlottenburg building undergoes major renovation.
The full story
In 1988 he had given about 90 Klees to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and in 1990, he had agreed to make a five-year loan (renewable by mutual agreement) to the National Gallery in London of 72 paintings and drawings by Paul Cézanne, Georges Seurat, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Joan Miró. Also in 1990, negotiations with Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía for the Berggruen collection to be shown in Madrid fell through. Berggruen initially lent the collection, which he had assembled over 30 years, to the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (PCHF). He finally sold it to the PCHF in December 2000, for the "symbolic" price of 253 million marks, well below its then estimated value of 1.5 billion marks.
Useful to know
- Verify current opening hours, closures and timed-entry rules on the official visitor page before setting out.
- Allow extra time for security or ticketing when the visit includes an interior collection or viewing platform.