Tel Aviv Museum collection visits Berlin
Israel and Germany established diplomatic relations 50 years ago. Now the Tel Aviv Museum of Art is sending its collection's modern and contemporary highlights to Berlin.
Marc Chagall's Solitude
The Tel Aviv Museum of Art opened in 1932, just a year before the Nazis seized power in Germany. It is also the year Marc Chagall painted "Solitude." Shortly after, many of his works were confiscated as "degenerate art." In 1941, the Russian-French artist fled to the United States.
Wassiliy Kandinsky's Green House
The first director of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art was art historian Karl Schwarz. Leading the museum from 1933 to 1947, he contacted artists and collectors to acquire new works. Wassily Kandinsky's "Landscape with Green House" dates from 1909. Other works that would land in the museum's collection were to be created later on...
Pablo Picasso's Bust of a Woman
… such as this work, "Bust of a Woman," painted by Picasso in 1953. The Tel Aviv Museum of Art was founded by Meir Dizengoff. Then the city's mayor, Dizengoff created it in his private residence on Rothschild Boulevard. Later extended, the Museum is now housed in three different buildings and boasts an important collection of modern art.
Mark Rothko's No. 24 (Untitled)
Although he defied labels, American artist Mark Rothko is considered a major abstract expressionism and color field painter. He was born in 1903 as Marcus Rothkowitz in Dvinsk, then part of Russia. His family emigrated to the United States to flee anti-Semitic pogroms.
Max Ernst's Bewildered Planet
Many but not all of the masters of modern art from the Tel Aviv collection visiting Berlin have a Jewish background. Works by German painters such as Max Ernst are also among the highlights. He painted "Bewildered Planet" in 1942, shortly after fleeing to America, escaping German-occupied France.
Jackson Pollock's Dancers
Max Ernst later claimed he was the one who influenced Jackson Pollock to develop his famous drip painting technique, in which paint is dripped or poured onto the canvas. Whomever the idea came from, the style made Pollock one of the most famous painters of the 20th century. "Dancers" was created in 1942, shortly before he started using the technique.
Yael Bartana's Europe
20th century classics meet video works and installations by contemporary Israeli artists such as Yael Bartana (pictured is a video still from her work), Guy Ben-Ner and Nevet Yitzchak. The exhibition "The Century Mark. Tel Aviv Museum of Art visits Berlin" lasts until June 21, 2015.