The second stop on its United States tour, Modern Art and Politics in Germany 1910-1945: Masterworks from the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, traces German modern art from the early twentieth century avant-gardes through the Nazi dictatorship. This powerful and timely exhibition features 72 paintings as well as sculptures. These come from notable names like Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Käthe Kollwitz, George Grosz, Max Beckmann, Hannah Höch, and Paul Klee, as well as experimental European artists of the period: Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kandinsky, Giorgio de Chirico, and Salvador Dalí.
Modern Art and Politics In Germany 1910–1945 Exhibit at the Albuquerque Museum – August 23, 2025 – January 4, 2026
“What’s important about this exhibit is that it focuses on both the objects and the artists that made the objects. The story is not just from a political vantage point, it’s from an art-focused vantage point, too. The text of the exhibition raises hard questions about humanity as depicted by the artists,” says Andrew Connors, Albuquerque Museum Director.
Salvador Dalí, Portrait of Mrs. Isabel Styler-Tas (Melancolía), 1945, oil on canvas. Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin © 2024 Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Artists Rights Society, photo: Jörg P. Anders © Neue Nationalgalerie, Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin.
Interestingly, many exhibition artists had works in both the 1937 Degenerate Art show, which condemned “anti-German” modern art and ideas, and the competing state sanctioned Great German Art Exhibition featuring art aligned with Nazi ideology. The last section of the exhibition focuses on artists trying to reestablish their careers after WW2.
Even with the somber and sobering themes of repression, discrimination as well as prejudice, the exhibition features many works celebrating color, new ways of observing the built and natural environments, and the creative talents of artists of the time.
“I’m powerfully moved by the way the German curators of the collection are adamant that the horrors of German history are told in a straightforward and truthful manner with the sincere hope that nowhere else in the world the same mistakes will be duplicated or replicated,” Connors adds.
Story by Kelly Koepke
Photos Courtesy of Albuquerque Museum
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