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Fine Arts Collection

Glance through our art holdings featuring modernist works by Max Liebermann and Lovis Corinth, and commercial graphic art by Louis Oppenheim. The motifs span from biblical and Jewish themes to intimate portraits and Felix Nussbaum’s haunting response to his experience of persecution.

  • Painting of Albertine Mendelssohn-Bartholdy.

    Albertine Mendelssohn-Bartholdy as a Bride by August Theodor Kaselowsky

    In this painting, Albertine Heine appears to be a Christian Madonna. She holds the ring near her heart, wearing a white dress with her gaze modestly lowered.

  • Map of the Holy Land with English and Hebrew labels.

    Biblical map of the Holy Land

    This "New and Original Biblical Map of the Holy Land" from 1893 was probably never intended to be used by pilgrims or travelers on the ground.

  • Painting, a man walks down a hallway.

    Loneliness by Felix Nussbaum

    Nussbaum is nearly unique among artists for his striking examination of his plight as one of the persecuted. He painted it in Brussels, where he was in hiding, in 1942.

  • Painting shows a family of father, mother and child.

    The Plesch Family Portrait by Max Slevogt

    Max Slevogt created this painting of his friend's family in 1928. It captures the intimacy of family life while fulfilling a group portrait's representative function.

  • Abstract painting in blue, black and yellow tones

    Composition by Otto Freundlich

    Otto Freundlich painted this abstract composition in 1938 – one year after another artwork of his had been branded "degenerate art" in Nazi Germany.

  • Painting shows the outline of a man.

    Moses Looks upon the Promised Land by Lesser Ury

    For artist Lesser Ury, the painting marked the end of a lifelong preoccupation with the figure of Moses. Unfortunately, only a pastel sketch for the painting survives.

  • Color lithograph print: Louis Oppenheim, advertising poster for S. Adam.

    S. Adam Advertising Poster by Louis Oppenheim

    With this poster by the well-known graphic artist Louis Oppenheim, the S. Adam clothing store advertised its products to male and female sports enthusiasts in 1908.

  • Print: a man stands in a crowd of people.

    Passage through the Red Sea by Jakob Steinhardt

    This woodcut by Jakob Steinhardt illustrates a 1920s Haggadah. The people barely escaped with their lives—as is revealed in the expression on Moses’ face.

  • Bronze statue of a naked girl.

    Girl Walking by Elisabeth Wolff

    The sculpture by Elisabeth Wolff was a trophy at the first sporting festival held by the Reich Committee for Jewish Youth Associations, in 1934. The artwork has only been entrusted to our collection for safekeeping.

  • Painting of a man wearing a suit and a straw hat.

    Self-Portrait with Straw Hat by Max Liebermann

    In this late self-portrait, the artist presents himself as bourgeois in a dark suit and a Panama hat. Two years after his eightieth birthday, he painted himself here with a touch of resignation and melancholy.

  • Abstract painting.

    Sabbath by Jankel Adler

    Jankel Adler's painting Sabbath shows a parlor scene on the weekly day of rest. But the artist has not depicted the festive, pleasurable moment of welcoming the Shabbat.

  • Portrait of a woman (Charlotte Berend) sitting in three-quarter profile on a red armchair in front of a window.

    Petermannchen by Lovis Corinth

    Lovis Corinth painted this portrait of his student and wife-to-be during a beach vacation on the Baltic coast. It contains a secret romantic message.