Review

Drawing the City

Paper-Based Works from 1945 to the Present

A fascination with the modern city experienced by artists from all over the world has always been a vibrant, finger-on-pulse theme in the art produced in Berlin since 1945.

Tacita Dean, Palast I, 2005

Tacita Dean, Palast I, 2005

© Tacita Dean, Foto: Kai-Annett Becker

Berlin has been drawn by its history, by triumphs and fiascos, by feudalism, pragmatism, liberalism, democracies and dictatorships. It has also been drawn and painted by many artists. The Berlinische Galerie holds one of the biggest and most significant collections of art about the city of Berlin. A special selection will go on display from 7 August, in many cases for the first time. More than 175 works by 22 women and 47 men will be on show: mostly drawings in all formats from big to small, much in colour, much in black-and-white, in very different techniques and in a variegated bouquet of representational art, photorealism, surrealism, late Expressionism, abstract styles, illustrations and comics. “Drawing the City” is structured in six chapters and features artists of world renown – among them Rainer Fetting, K.H. Hödicke, Tal R, Tacita Dean, Wolf Vostell – but also plenty of time and space for discoveries and rediscoveries of powerful works and powerful biographies of artists like Gabriele Basch, Thomas Bayrle, Gertrude Sandmann, Werner Heldt, Evelyn Kuwertz, Klaus Vogelsang. Exhibition curator Annelie Lütgens explores this fascination with the metropolis, links East with West. Traces of history can be detected in many works, and there are flickers of visual memory from Berlin in the Weimar Republic. This year Berlin marks the centenary of its birth in its current contours with a range of events and shows; “Drawing the City” is part of the celebration.

Participating artists


Franz Ackermann, Patrizia Bach, Heike Kati Barath, Volker Bartsch, Gabriele Basch, Thomas Bayrle, Norbert Behrend, Günter Blendinger, Bettina Blohm, Joachim Böttcher, KP Brehmer, Gisela Breitling, Catherine Bührendt-Métais, Tacita Dean, Arved Dietrich, Antje Dorn, Marcel van Eeden, Klaus Ensikat, Rainer Fetting, Karin Fleischer, Terry Fox, Friedrich-Wilhelm Fretwurst, Antje Fretwurst- Colberg, Lothar Gemmel, Dieter Goltzsche, Elli Graetz, Claus Haase, Sarah Haffner, Frank Hartung, Bertram Hasenauer, Eberhard Havekost, Werner Heldt, Thomas Hermsdorf, K.H. Hödicke, Günther Horn, Jan Huber, Friederike Klotz, Mark Kubitzke, Evelyn Kuwertz, Wolfgang Leber, Rolf Lindemann, Pia Linz, Theresa Lükenwerk, Susanne Mahlmeister, Marwan, Monika Meiser, Katharina Meldner, Florian Merkel, Nanne Meyer, Gisela Neumann, Michael Otto, Tal R, Thomas Ravens, Robert Rehfeldt, Klaus Roenspieß, Alexander Roob, Jürgen Rosemann, Gertrude Sandmann, Antonio Saura, Egmont Schaefer, Eugen Schönebeck, Andreas Seltzer, Malte Spohr, Walter Stöhrer, Bernd Trasberger, Emilo Vedova, Klaus Vogelgesang, Wolf Vostell, Gerd Wessel.

Virtual tour

Tacita Dean, Palast I, 2005

„Drawing the City. Paper-based works from 1945 to the Present“

Discover all the works in the exhibition in our collection online!

to Collection Online

The exhibition is part of the centenary year “Berlin 100” - an initiative of the City of Berlin.
It has been generously supported by the Förderverein Berlinische Galerie e.V.

Cooperation and media partner