Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection, Art museum at Charlottenburg district, Germany
The Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection occupies a neoclassical building near Charlottenburg Palace, showcasing surrealist and modern artworks distributed across three floors. The structure dates to the 18th century and was specifically adapted to display the collection effectively.
Otto Gerstenberg began assembling the collection in the early 1900s with French Impressionist works, but lost many pieces during World War II. The collection was rebuilt after the war and eventually installed permanently in this building.
The collection displays works from French Romanticism through the Surrealist movement with pieces by Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, and Max Ernst shown in their original display spaces. Visitors can trace how these artistic movements developed and influenced one another through the arranged galleries.
The museum opens Tuesday through Friday from 10 AM to 6 PM and Saturday through Sunday from 11 AM to 6 PM with wheelchair access throughout the building. Plan for several hours to properly view the galleries across all three floors at a comfortable pace.
The collection includes unsettling dungeon images by Italian artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi and disturbing murals by Francisco Goya from the 1820s, both representing early predecessors to Surrealism. These older works reveal how surreal and unsettling artistic ideas existed long before the modern movement emerged.
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