Invitation to the press conference for the exhibition “Dreams of Freedom: Romanticism in Russia and Germany”

Romantik

Romanticism in Russia and Germany

Den Ausgangspunkt

Press information in Russian/ Пресс-релиз на русском языке

The starting point for the presentation marks the crisis of the subject at the beginning of the 19th century and the associated struggle for freedom. The ideas of the French Revolution were spreading throughout all of Europe; at the same time Napoleon Bonaparte engulfed the continent with war. The conservative governments in Russia and the German states aimed to restrict civil rights. The artists of the Romantic period countered this time of upheaval with an artistic cosmos dominated by emotions and revolutionary potential. Their dreams of freedom combine artistic individualism with social utopias.

The exhibition presents over 140 paintings of the Romantic period from Russia and Germany. A total of 70 paintings come as loans from Russian museums, including the State Tretyakov Gallery Moscow, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Russian Museum Saint Petersburg, and the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts Moscow. A further focus lies on works from German museums, such as the Old National Gallery Berlin, the Hamburg Kunsthalle, or the Novalis-Museum in Oberwiederstedt. Additionally, selected objects are also on view: a conducting baton belonging to Carl Maria von Weber, one of the most important Romantic composers, or Napoleon Bonaparte’s boots, which he likely wore during the Russian campaign in 1812. New focal points are set in the Dresden presentation with the war diary of the poet Theodor Körner or Ludwig Richter’s diary chronicling his journey to France in 1820. One of the special features of the second station is its direct proximity to the collection of Romantic works in the Albertinum itself, which includes important masterpieces by Friedrich, such as “The Cross in the Mountains (Tetschen Alter),” “The Great Enclosure,” and “The Cemetery Entrance,” all of which are part of the permanent display.

Works by international contemporary artists demonstrate the continued impact of Romanticism and its associated: the question of the subject; a self-determined, free life; and security in one’s adopted home, but also the power of emancipatory struggle and the threat of war. In their works, the artists Susan Philipsz, Mathilde ter Heijne, Wolfgang Tillmans, Jaan Toomik, Andrey Kuzkin, and Boris Mikhailov make both aesthetic as well as thematic references to the Romantic period.

The US-American architect Daniel Libeskind is responsible for the labyrinthine structure of the exhibition design. With its floor plan consisting of two intertwined lines, it offers a sequence of spaces that, with its brokenness, provides sensory access to the artists' spiritual world.

The exhibition "Dreams of Freedom: Romanticism in Russia and Germany” is part of the program Year of Germany in Russia 2020/2021 and is sponsored by the German Federal Foreign Office. It will take place from 2 October 2021 until 6 February 2022 in the Salzgassen Wing of the Albertinum.  You can find all information about the exhibition at: www.skd.museum/dreams-of-freedom.

To comply with hygiene requirements during the coronavirus pandemic, attendees must register for the press event at presse@skd.museum. Access will only be granted to those who offer proof they have been vaccinated or tested, or recovered from Covid and give their contact details at the venue. Please note that you will be required to wear a medical-grade nose and mouth covering (FFP2 or surgical mask) and stay at a distance of 1.50 metres from other people.

At the same time, we offer the opportunity to watch the press conference via an online livestream on the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden YouTube channel and ask questions online. Access via www.skd.museum.

The press conference will be simultaneously translated into English.

Opening times
daily 10:00 a.m. until 6 p.m., closed Monday

Ticket prices
regular 12 €, reduced 9 €, free under 17, from ten people 11 €