Einladung zum Pressegespräch

The Albertinum at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden boasts a set of sculptures by Auguste Rodin unmatched by any other collection in Germany. Long absent from public view, they can now be admired alongside other works of French and Belgian sculpture from the period around 1800 at the exhibition “The Great Drama: Auguste Rodin and the Debate over Modernism”, which will run from 31 October 2026 to 22 August 2027. About 70 sculptures, some monumental in size, will engage in dialogue with 24 paintings as well as photographs, medals, plaques and historical documents. Many of these works have not been seen in public since 1939. The exhibition recounts how the collection in Dresden became one of the most innovative and significant in modern European art – and how this new art unleashed a heated debate.

The story revolves around an extraordinary collection and its founder. Georg Treu (1843–1921), the visionary director of the sculpture department at the Albertinum, wished to reveal “what is being accomplished in world sculpture in our times”. In 1894, when he began contacting artists personally and making selective purchases of contemporary works, he sparked the museum’s turn towards modernism. It was a ground-breaking strategy entailing a radical conceptual realignment at the Albertinum. 

The hub of the avant-garde was Paris. It hosted the great World’s Fair and was the home of artists such as Emanuel Frémiet, whose spectacular “Gorilla Carrying Off a Woman” was the first acquisition in Dresden’s collection of French and Belgian avant-garde sculpture. In 1894 Georg Treu purchased “The Age of Bronze” and “Man with the Broken Nose” by Auguste Rodin, the first works by the eminent French sculptor ever to be acquired for a German museum. By 1912 Dresden owned 20 sculptures by Rodin, more than any other collection in Germany. Another unusual feature was that so many items were made of plaster, a material much favoured by Rodin and one which lent clear expression to his modernity. 

The path to modernity was also a path to new themes and new styles. People and their everyday lives moved centre stage. Some artists looked to the modern world of work for their motifs. One was Constantin Meunier, a protégé of Georg Treu: his first major show in Dresden in 1897 launched his career as a sculptor. His renowned “Dock Worker” will be on display, as will the monumental bas-relief “Bakers” by Alexandre Charpentier. This colourful earthenware piece measuring three metres by four can be viewed for the first time since war closed down the museum in 1939. 

One highlight is the cast of Albert Bartholomé’s famous “Monument aux morts”. The original work of 9 x 3.50 metres stands in Père-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris as a “Monument to the Dead”. It was by purchasing this copy that Georg Treu triggered the “Dresden Sculpture Controversy”: in the Dresdner Anzeiger of 6 January 1901, 34 sculptors protested at what they saw as “morbid xenophilia”. Their indignation was fuelled less by artistic concerns than by the fact that most of the public funding available was being spent on sculpture from France. 

The “Great Drama” exhibition will include most of the sculptures acquired over 130 years ago, many of which have not been on display since then. The exhibition title is to be taken literally: several works are truly monumental and the debates about purchases were often dramatic. 

Drama also resides, however, in the themes addressed by these works. They reflect social upheavals in the age of industrialisation and a new perspective on humankind. Bodies, gestures and faces convey emotional states; a new interest in psychology comes to the fore. These sculptures tell a dramatic tale of living conditions, social inequalities, needs, ideals and hopes, and they touch us as much today as they did when they were first made.

Much restoration and research has been invested in preparing for this major show at the Albertinum. Experts from Germany and abroad analysed copious material after it was digitised. The results of their investigations are being collated in a book scheduled for publication by Sandstein Verlag in May 2027. This will, at the same time, provide the first full catalogue of the Albertinum’s collection of French and Belgian art. 

The exhibition will be accompanied by a wide-ranging programme of events. Apart from public and curator-led tours in German and French there are formats for families and for people with disabilities. Children and adults alike can join workshops to try their hand at carving a relief or making a plaster cast. 

On 11 March 2027 Vocal Concert Dresden will perform among the exhibits. 

In the Epilogue Room at the end of the exhibition visitors are asked “What drama do we face today?” Answers can be left in the form of drawings or written texts. 

further infomation

Exhibition dates 31 October 2026 to 22 August 2027

Opening times Tuesday to Sunday 11 am — 5 pm, Thursday until 8pm, closed on Mondays

Tickets standard € 14, concessions € 10.50, students under 20 € 2, groups of 10+ € 12.50 pp