Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection

The Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection is an art museum in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin, Germany. Founded in 2008, it presents paintings, sculptures, and graphic arts spanning from French Romanticism to Surrealism. The museum operates as part of the National Gallery of Berlin and is situated opposite the Berggruen Museum. Its holdings belong to the Foundation of the Dieter Scharf Collection in Remembrance of Otto Gerstenberg, which loans the works to the Berlin State Museums. The institution recorded around 49,000 visitors in 2019.

The collection originates with Otto Gerstenberg, a prominent early 20th-century Berlin art collector. After his death in 1935, his collection suffered severe losses, with parts destroyed in air raids and others seized as plunder, ending up in Russian museums. Surviving works passed to his daughter, Margarete Scharf, and eventually to his grandson, Dieter Scharf. Dieter Scharf inherited a group of graphics from his grandfather, which became the foundation for his own acquisitions of symbolist and surrealist art. In 2000, Scharf presented his holdings in Berlin under the title Surreal Worlds. Shortly before his death in 2001, he transferred the collection to a new foundation. A ten-year loan agreement was established with the Berlin State Museums, and the museum opened in July 2008. In 2018, the loan agreement was extended for another ten years.

The museum's holdings emphasize graphic works, following the collecting model established by Otto Gerstenberg. The prints inherited from Gerstenberg served as the base upon which Dieter Scharf built a broader collection focused on Symbolism and Surrealism. In addition to this graphic core, the collection includes paintings by artists such as Salvador Dali, Jean Dubuffet, Max Ernst, Rene Magritte, Andre Masson, Gustave Moreau, Odilon Redon, Henri Rousseau, and Yves Tanguy. Sculptures by Max Ernst, Henri Laurens, Jacques Lipchitz, and Antoni Tapies further augment the ensemble. The collection thematically complements the Picasso and His Time exhibition at the nearby Berggruen Museum, with artists like Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, and Alberto Giacometti represented in both institutions.

The foundational graphics inherited from the Gerstenberg estate include notable works by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Francisco de Goya, Charles Meryon, Victor Hugo, Edouard Manet, and Max Klinger. The broader collection features paintings, graphics, and sculptures by a wide array of artists, including Willi Baumeister, Hans Bellmer, Victor Brauner, Paul Eluard, James Ensor, Alberto Giacometti, George Grosz, Horst Janssen, Paul Klee, Fernand Leger, Joan Miro, Edvard Munch, Richard Oelze, Francis Picabia, Pablo Picasso, Kurt Schwitters, Georges Seurat, Mark Tobey, and Wols. Additionally, the museum temporarily houses the Kalabsha Gate and columns from the ancient Sahure Temple, which belong to the Egyptian Museum and will remain there until the completion of the Pergamon Museum's fourth exhibition wing.

The museum is located at Schlossstrasse 70, in the East Stuler Building across from the Berggruen Museum, which occupies the West Stuler Building. Both structures are separated from Charlottenburg Palace by the Spandau Dam. The buildings originated from designs by Prussian King Frederick William IV and were executed by architect Friedrich August Stuler between 1851 and 1859. They originally served as officer barracks for the Gardes du Corps regiment. The East Building connects to the former Marstall Building, constructed from 1855 to 1858 by Karl Wilhelm Drewitz. Together, these buildings housed the Egyptian Museum from 1967 until 2005. From 2005 to 2008, the complex was renovated for the Scharf-Gerstenberg Museum under architect Gregor Sunder-Plassmann, a project that cost ten million euros.

The Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection is located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin, Germany. It is part of the National Gallery of Berlin and operates under the umbrella of the Berlin State Museums and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, which provides the building space. The artworks remain owned by the Foundation of the Dieter Scharf Collection in Remembrance of Otto Gerstenberg, loaned to the state museums under a long-term agreement recently extended through 2028. Information regarding the museum and its exhibitions is available on the Berlin State Museums website.