On wasteland, and through the barricades....

07.08.2015

The title today comes from a Spandau Ballet song whose chorus goes " We made our love on wasteland, and through the barricades" They could have been writing about the location of my next visit to a famous Berlin art gallery. I got off the U2 at Potsdammer platz and walked up the stairs to the surface not knowing what to expect. Potsdamer platz from the end of WW2 to the fall of the Berlin Wall was a wasteland which the Wall bisected. It was a place of barbed wire, watchtowers, and barely concealed hostility between the factions who divided the spoils of the city of Berlin, as soon as the war had ended. Pink Floyd, in 1990, held their "Brick in the Wall" Concert in the emptiness that was Potsdamer platz (yet it is only a kilometre south of the Brandenburg Gate) Twenty five years later it is a vision of a shiny future with extensive glass and steel skyscrapers, shopping complexes, high end hotels and eating establishments. It is also home to several cultural landmarks like the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra centre, and the Gemaldegalerie. It was difficult to find the entrance to this amazing gallery. It's almost like they are trying to hide the fact that it is there. The building disappears into the background with only a flat roof and a set of stairs leading to a blank glass facade. On a hot summers day it was a blessing to finally step inside to an airconditioned coolness. I paid my NZ$16 but got free headphones with a really interesting commentary on several of the works on display. What a wonderful layout. There is a central gallery. To the right of the central gallery are the Northern European paintings arranged from the 13th to the 19th centuries. They contain works from German, Dutch, Flemish, English and French artists such as Van Eyck, Bruegel, Rubens, Rembrandt, Gainsborough, and Joshua Reynolds. To the left of the central gallery are artists from the Southern European Countries Italy, France, and Spain. Artists such as Caravaggio, Velazquez, Raphael, Titian, Botticelli, and Giotto as well as many others are shown here. Each room contains one or two masterpieces, which have been looked after so well they look like they could have been painted just a few years ago. This is especially true about the works from the 13th to the 17th century. You are able to get an idea of which artists were painting at the same time and how they often influenced each others work. I took three times as many photos as I am showing here, and it would take me forever to find out who painted each one of the ones on display. As I said the audio commentary was very interesting. For instance one of the paintings is of an older couple standing and eating a meagre meal of peas or corn. I found out that the French artist who painted this picture became very popular after his death. This caused the owner of the painting to have it cut down the middle into two individual paintings, which he sold at a large profit. The Gallery managed to buy them both and returned them to their original condition as one painting. Another painting done by Joshua Reynolds was originally of a mother and daughter with their Indian servant. The husband and father Lord Clive of India was painted at a later date on a spare strip of canvas which was then added to the painting. The reason was that the daughter died a year after the first painting and they wanted to create a full family portrait as a keepsake in her memory. Many of the paintings in this collection are turning points in the history of painting styles, and it was a treat to hear the inside stories about them This gallery was one of the finest and easiest to walk round that I have seen so far, and I would like to do it again next year because I have a feeling I missed out many of the rooms..

The wasteland today