Upcoming Gallery and Museum Shows, continuing thread

The German and Austrian capitals have a long and well-documented collaborative history in literature, theater and music. Now a newly inaugurated exhibition at Berlin's Berlinische Gallerie is exploring the cities' conversation in the visual arts.

"Vienna Berlin: The Art of Two Cities" is the first joint exhibition between the Berlinische Galerie and Vienna's Österreichische Galerie Belvedere. The exhibition charts departures in both cities from the more conservative academic style of the late 19th century toward Art Nouveau (known locally as "Jugendstil") and late impressionism.
The chief contrast between the cities lies in their approach to realism. Members of the Berlin Secession began making everyday life the subject of high art, showing working class women at work or World War I veterans begging on Berlin streets. Their focus was the relentless pace of big city living.

Their Viennese counterparts, in contrast, found their style in ornamental forms. They were often inspired by the work of Sigmund Freud, and paid more attention to the interior world and psychology.

The Mauritshuis, situated in The Hague, is to reopen its doors on Friday 27 June, following the renovation and expansion of its Art Deco building.

The museum, which holds an important collection of paintings from Holland’s Golden Age — Vermeer, Rembrandt and Fabritius included — is to see the return of The Girl with the Pearl Earring (1665) by Vermeer, which has travelled around the world during the museum’s renovation. The project, which began in 2008, has been orchestrated by architectural firm Hans van Heeswijk, at a total cost of €22 million.

The museum currently welcomes 230,000 visitors annually. Its director, Emile Gordenker, hopes that this total will increase by a further 25% following the reopening.

The inaugural exhibition is to be dedicated to the architecture and history of the two buildings which make up the museum, including their creation and renovation.