THIS IS THE MODERN WORLD: Breakthroughs in Art, 1900–1960

Hamburger Kunsthalle

4 September 2026 to 30 May 2027 

THIS IS THE MODERN WORLD: Breakthroughs in Art, 1900–1960 takes a fresh look at the Hamburger Kunsthalle’s Modern Art Collection, one of the premier collections of its kind in Germany. A selection of some 150 paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings – including both well-known highlights and special new acquisitions – illustrates the profusion of new ideas and techniques that emerged as artists broke with traditions during six decades marked by extraordinary upheavals in culture and society. A great diversity of approaches becomes apparent within the various modernist trends. Expressionism is embodied by iconic works produced by members of artist groups such as Die Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter, among them Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Wassily Kandinsky, while the École de Paris is represented by painters such as Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso. Also featured are pioneers of early modernism such as Edvard Munch, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Lovis Corinth, Max Beckmann and Anita Rée. Joining them are artists who took up an abstract style between the wars, for example Sophie Tauber-Arp, Surrealists such as René Magritte, exponents of the New Objectivity including Christian Schad, and artists who embraced post-war Art Informel such as Wols. 

The modernist works have been rearranged in ten redesigned galleries along the museum’s circuit through eight centuries of art. The chronological presentation is now enriched by thematic groupings transcending time and place, offering new perspectives on this revolutionary era. Novel styles of abstraction and representation come to light in works that convey a changing understanding of nature and technology and also of society and human existence under the influence of the latest developments in psychology, philosophy and politics – including Nazi ideology. A gallery of works by Hamburg artists supplements the panorama of international modernism with some regional perspectives – for example harbour and city scenes. Over the course of the show, a changing selection of works from the museum’s Prints and Drawings Collection will offer further insights into artists’ working methods. 

As a highlight, recent donations and significant new acquisitions are presented, including 

René Magritte’s key Surrealist work Le palais de rideaux (The Palace of Curtains) from 1928, which the Kunsthalle acquired in 2025. (Öl auf Leinwand, 81 x 116 cm Erworben 2025, gemeinsames Ei- gentum Stiftung Hamburger Kunst- sammlungen, Hamburger Kunsthalle und Heinz H. O. Schröder Stiftung. Die Erwerbung wurde zudem unter- stützt von der Campe’schen Histo- rischen Kunststiftung sowie Sabine und Michael R. Neumann.© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026 © SHK / Hamburger Kunsthalle / ARTOTHEK Foto: Christoph Irrgang)

Max Beckmann (1884–1950) and Anita Rée (1885–1933) serve as the exhibition’s guiding lights, with a combined total of around 20 works on display. With their continual formal innovations and provocative ideas, these two contemporaries are considered para- gons of modernism. Among the works on view by Beckmann is the Hamburger Kunsthalle’s most expensive acquisition to date: 

Selbstbildnis Florenz (Selfportrait in Florence, 1907), (Oil on canvas, mounted on plywood41cm x 46cm (image)Hamburger Kunsthalle, acquired with funds from the Campe Historical Art Foundation, 2015Inv. No.: HK-5738 © Hamburger Kunsthalle / ARTOTHEK Photo: Elke Walfordone) of the first in a long series of variations on the self- portrait in the course of his career. In a direct spatial juxtaposition, Rée and Beckmanns' eyes meet from the

Selbstbildnis in Hittfeld (Self-portrait in Hittfeld, 1904), from the Selbstbildnis in Hittfeld (Self-portrait in Hittfeld, 1904), (Anita Rée (Hamburg 1885 - 1933 Kampen on Sylt

Oil on canvas, mounted on plywood41cm x 46cm (image)Hamburger Kunsthalle, acquired with funds from the Campe Historical Art Foundation, 2015Inv. No.: HK-5738Collection: Classical Modernism

Hamburger Kunsthalle / ARTOTHEK Photo: Elke Walford )

from the likewise produced at an early stage of Rée's career, when she was taking painting lessons near her hometown of Hamburg. These works are accompanied by a whole series of additional, strikingly diverse portraits, hung closely together on an exhibition wall to form a dense tableau telling myriad stories from the lives of important modern masters. Among them are Karl Kluth’s Selbst mit Melone (Self with Bowler Hat, 1924), in which we encounter the artist as a dishevelled bohemian at his easel, hat perched jauntily on his head.

THIS IS THE MODERN WORLD marks the first time that the Hamburger Kunsthalle is no longer presenting »modernism« under the label »classical modernism«, which museums usually use to distinguish between works dating from 1900 to 1960 and the »contemporary« works that came later. This points as well to our future orientation, which will be aligned along a global history of art in the first half of the twentieth century rather than the predominantly European focus of the past. 

More Images

Anita Rée (1885–1933)
Bildnis Hildegard Heise, 1927
Öl auf Leinwand, 40,6 x 35,6 cm Hamburger Kunsthalle
© Hamburger Kunsthalle / ARTOTHEK Foto: Elke Walford

Louise Loeber (1894–1983) Spülstein I, 1929
Öl auf Malpappe, 95 x 64,5 cm Hamburger Kunsthalle © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026© Hamburger Kunsthalle / ARTOTHEK Foto: Elke Walford

Henri Rousseau (1844–1910) Eva im irdischen Paradies, um 1906/07
Öl auf Leinwand, 62 x 46 cm Dauerleihgabe der Stiftung Ham- burger Kunstsammlungen © SHK / Hamburger Kunsthalle / ARTOTHEKFoto: Elke Walford

Max Beckmann (1884–1950) Odysseus und Kalypso, 1943
Öl auf Leinwand, 150 x 115,5 cm Hamburger Kunsthalle, erworben 1949 © Hamburger Kunsthalle / ARTOTHEK Foto: Elke Walford

Heinrich Hoerle (1895–1936) Mann und Frau, 1933
Wachs auf Papier, aufgezogen auf Sperrholz, 97,5 x 117 cm Dauerleihgabe der Stiftung Ham- burger Kunstsammlungen © SHK / Hamburger Kunsthalle / ARTOTHEK Foto: Elke Walford

Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876– 1907)
Alte Moorbäuerin, 1913
Öl auf Leinwand, 77 x 57 cm Hamburger Kunsthalle, erworben 1920, beschlagnahmt durch die Kommission für »Entartete Kunst« 1937, erneut erworben 1951© Hamburger Kunsthalle / ARTOTHEK Foto: Elke Walford

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880–1938) Maler und Modell, 1910 (überar- beitet 1926)
Öl auf Leinwand, 150,4 x 100 cm Hamburger Kunsthalle, Geschenk von Ernesto Blohm, Caracas/Vene- zuela, in Erinnerung an seine Mutter Magdalene Blohm, 1952© Hamburger Kunsthalle / ARTOTHEK Foto: Elke Walford

Christian Schad (1894–1982) Bildnis Egon Erwin Kisch, 1928
Öl auf Leinwand, 90,5 x 61,5 cm Hamburger Kunsthalle, erworben 1971 © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026© Hamburger Kunsthalle / ARTOTHEK Foto: Elke Walford

Franz Wilhelm Seiwert (1894–1933) Feierabend II, 1925
Tempera auf Rupfen, 200 x 140,5 cm Hamburger Kunsthalle© Hamburger Kunsthalle / ARTOTHEK Foto: Elke Walford

Max Pechstein (1881–1955) Junge mit Spielzeug, 1916
Öl auf Leinwand, 80 x 70 cm Erworben 2025 für die Kunsthalle von der Stiftung Hamburger Kunst- sammlungen© SHK / Hamburger Kunsthalle / ARTOTHEKFoto: Christoph Irrgang