Thursdays the Museum Barberini presents special lectures (in German) on a particular aspect of the Hasso Plattner Collection or the current exhibition. Museum curators, conservators, and guides speak about their various disciplines and areas of work, offering a glimpse behind the scenes and offering new perspectives on the works of art.

The lectures are offered also online on Wednesdays, see Online Live Talk

Costs
€ 5 plus admission

Venue
Auditorium

Runtime
50 minutes

Thursday, November 24, 2022
Art and Nature: Biotopes in Impressionist Landscapes
Dr. Hannes Petrischak, head of nature conservation, Heinz Sielmann Foundation
Dr. Dorothee Entrup, art historian, Museum Barberini
Although nature seems to be represented in a cursory manner in the landscapes painted by French Impressionists, the artists of this movement were quite intent on precisely depicting the things, places, and phenomena they observed. For this reason, Impressionist pictures often contain natural and cultivated landscapes that are now quite rare. Many of the depicted plants and animals are even listed as endangered species. In this lecture, art historian Dorothee Entrup presents a selection of Impressionist landscapes, while biologist Hannes Petrischak describes what sorts of nature are depicted and explains how endangered and worthy of protection they are today.

Thursday, December 8, 2022
Magical Imagery: The Surrealists and the New Self-Perception of Women
Dr. Ira Oppermann, art historian
While Surrealism in Paris around 1920 was dominated by male artists, many women artists joined the group around André Breton in the 1930s. Similar to Breton, they valued freedom of expression, spiritual and alchemistic subject matter, and the investigation of the new findings of psychoanalysis.In her lecture, Ira Oppermann presents the artists Leonora Carrington, Leonor Fini, Dorothea Tanning, and Remedios Varos and examines the role that the new self-perception of women played in their art. Although women were often presented as passive muses by their male painter colleagues, the women Surrealists created realms in which women took control as magicians, sorceresses, and seductresses.

Thursday, January 12, 2023
From Symbolism to Surrealism
Andreas Knüppel, art historian
With their dreamlike images and use of symbols and metaphors, the Surrealists aimed to stimulate the human imagination and inspire viewers to confront their emotions. Surrealism, which was founded in 1924 by French writer André Breton, was preceded in the late nineteenth century by Symbolism, whose proponents also focused on the unconscious and irrational, turning against the prevailing style of Realism and the materialism of the period.
In this lecture, Andreas Knüppel examines the works in the exhibition in terms of the overriding themes of both art movements—the unconscious, dream, magic, eros, and spiritualism—and examines how the Surrealists further developed Symbolism with regard to style and technique.

Thursday, January 26, 2023
Magical Imagery: The Surrealists and the New Self-Perception of Women
Dr. Ira Oppermann, art historian
While Surrealism in Paris around 1920 was dominated by male artists, many women artists joined the group around André Breton in the 1930s. Similar to Breton, they valued freedom of expression, spiritual and alchemistic subject matter, and the investigation of the new findings of psychoanalysis.
In her lecture, Ira Oppermann presents the artists Leonora Carrington, Leonor Fini, Dorothea Tanning, and Remedios Varos and examines the role that the new self-perception of women played in their art. Although women were often presented as passive muses by their male painter colleagues, the women Surrealists created realms in which women took control as magicians, sorceresses, and seductresses.

Thursday, February 16, 2023
Air and Light = Heaven?
Art and religion in dialogue
Prof. Dr. Johann Ev. Hafner, theologian, University of Potsdam
​Dr. Dorothee Entrup, art historian, Museum Barberini
Monet recorded the light and weather conditions of different locations and explored them in his art. He was particularly interested in the representation of air and light. In many religions, light has a metaphysical meaning that goes far beyond physics or meteorology. Behind natural light there shines the light of Creation, the so-called “primordial light.” Taking a painting from the exhibition as its starting point, this conversation will examine Monet’s work from an art-historical and theological perspective. There will be an opportunity to continue the conversation in the foyer.