Art at Bellevue Palace

The entrance hall of Bellevue Palace, which has about 50 rooms, is decorated with two huge artworks by Gotthard Graubner. The late East German artist left the GDR in 1954 to study at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. His "pillow paintings," which consist of numerous layers of color-absorbing absorbent cotton and fabric panels, made him world famous.

Karl Friedrich Schinkel, considered the most important Prussian architect, also helped plan the city of Berlin. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier dedicated the former Music Room at Bellevue Palace to Schinkel, who was inspired by classical antiquity. Schinkel's drawings are on display in what has been renamed the Karl Friedrich Schinkel Salon.

In 2021, President Steinmeier had several rooms redecorated. In the photo, he ponders portraits of Rahel Varnhagen and Henriette Herz, Jewish women who ran famous debating salons in the 18th century. The women embody "intellectual independence and courage," Steinmeier said.

Bellevue Palace was built on the orders of Prince Ferdinand of Prussia. It has a main wing and two side wings. Construction began in 1775. It has been Germany's official presidential residence since 1994. Not far from the German Bundestag and the Chancellor's office, the palace stands on the fringes of Berlin's Tiergarten inner-city park, and is surrounded by ample grounds.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier renamed numerous rooms in Bellevue Palace. The room pictured above commemorates Robert Blum, one of the most important pioneers of democracy in Germany. Art dedicated to the history of German democracy is on display. Other rooms are dedicated to Rahel Varnhagen and French philosopher Voltaire, who spent some time at the court of Prussian King Frederick II.

The 1832 painting "Frederick William III" by Franz Krüger decorates a wall in the stairwell. It is on loan from the House of Hohenzollern, currently headed by Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia. Frederick William III is considered to have been a rather weak monarch, purposefulness and courage were not his strong points.

On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Frank-Walter Steinmeier in 2019 opened an exhibition of paintings by East German artists. The show was meant to be "a reverence to everyone who mustered the courage to take to the streets in 1989," the president said in his opening speech. The artwork included Harald Metzke's "Januskopf."

That exhibition also included Trak Wendisch's painting "Rope Dancer" (1984) as well as Hartwig Ebersbach's 1987 "Kaspar - upside down in ladies' boots" (left). The paintings were on display until the 30th anniversary of German reunification in October 2020, open to visitors at the annual civic festival at Bellevue Palace.

Shortly after taking office, Joachim Gauck had the portraits of his ten presidential predecessors moved from the foyer to a small room — he felt they were "too colorful" — causing a minor scandal. The paintings reportedly cost a total of €110,000 ($126,000). Former German President Christian Wulff had commissioned the little-known East German painter Volker Henze to paint all the heads of state.