Adolph Menzel (1815-1905) was the eye of the nineteenth century. In autumn 2019, the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett will rediscover Menzel’s paintings on paper. For a long time, the cosmos of these intimate, colourful works has not been known in its entirety, and has been waiting to be illuminated in all of its facets.

The impetus for the exhibition was the purchase of one of the artist’s masterpieces, which was long believed lost. In spring 2018 the pastel work Die Schlittschuhläufer im Berliner Tiergarten (Ice-Skaters in the Berlin Tiergarten, 1855) was acquired by the Kupferstichkabinett with the support of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Kulturstiftung der Länder (Cultural Foundation of the German Federal States), the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung and the Rudolf-August Oetker-Stiftung.

Around 100 of Menzel’s watercolour, pastel and gouache works from the museum’s own collection will be on show, complemented by a number of select loans.