Why go
Its collection of paintings, graphics and sculptures, spanning the period from French Romanticism to Surrealism, is currently housed in former rooms of the Egyptian Museum in Charlottenburg on a ten-year loan. It was founded in 2008, and is part of the National Gallery of Berlin.
What to look for
- The galleries trace fantastic and surreal imagery from Piranesi and Goya through Symbolism to Surrealism.
The full story
Gerstenberg was an early 20th-century Berlin art collector, whose collection was partly destroyed and partly seized as plunder (ending up in Russian museums) during the war. After Gerstenberg's death in 1935, his paintings went to his daughter, Margarete Scharf, who stored most in the bunker of the Nationalgalerie in Berlin during the war. These were taken to the Soviet Union. But some were put in storage and burned in an air raid. The surviving artworks remained in family ownership and were inherited by his grandson, Dieter Scharf. This collection of graphics was to be the foundation of Scharf's own acquisitions, and in 2000 Scharf's collection was put on display in Berlin under the name "Surreal Worlds". Shortly before his death in 2001 he transferred these works to the new Foundation.
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.