Avant-Garde: Max Liebermann and Impressionism in Germany
The painting that emerged in France in the 1860s was marked by intense, glowing colors and energetic, sketch-like brushwork. With Max Liebermann (1847–1935) as its pioneer, this revolutionary new approach also set the tone for the avant-garde in the German Empire from the 1870s on. Artists explored a wide range of motifs, from sundrenched landscapes and atmospheric figural scenes to meticulously arranged still lifes.
Max Liebermann: Blumenstauden am Gärtnerhäuschen nach Osten, 1923, Private Collection
The painting that emerged in France in the 1860s was marked by intense, glowing colors and energetic, sketch-like brushwork. With Max Liebermann (1847–1935) as its pioneer, this revolutionary new approach also set the tone for the avant-garde in the German Empire from the 1870s on. Artists explored a wide range of motifs, from sundrenched landscapes and atmospheric figural scenes to meticulously arranged still lifes.
The exhibition brings together over 100 paintings of German Impressionism, not only by Max Liebermann, but also numerous works by Lovis Corinth, Philipp Frank, Dora Hitz, Gotthardt Kuehl, Sabine Lepsius, Maria Slavona, Max Slevogt, Eva Stort, and Fritz von Uhde. The more than sixty international lenders include the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin, the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, the Folkwang Museum in Essen, the Städel Museum in Frankfurt am Main, the Hamburger Kunsthalle, the Neue Pinakothek in Munich, the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, and the Belvedere in Vienna.
The exhibition stands under the patronage of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. It is organized in cooperation with the Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, where it is on view from October 3, 2025 to February 8, 2026