See Masterpieces By Monet, Matisse, Degas And Picasso In The First-Ever Exhibition Of This German Family’s Private Art Collection In Berlin

The Scharf Collection features French artworks from the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as contemporary pieces from around the world.

“The Scharf Collection: Goya—Monet—Cézanne—Bonnard—Grosse” is on view at the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Alte Nationalgalerie / David von Becker

Over four generations, one German family built a sprawling collection of European masterpieces. Now, those artworks are on public display for the first time.

Titled “The Scharf Collection: Goya—Monet—Cézanne—Bonnard—Grosse,” the exhibition is on view at the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin through February 15, 2026. It spotlights about 150 artworks by renowned painters across three centuries, including old masters like Francisco Goya, Impressionists like Claude Monet, modernists like Pablo Picasso and contemporary artists like Germany’s Katharina Grosse.

No Title, Katharina Grosse, 2000 The Scharf Collection

“We go from Goya to Grosse,” said René Scharf, the current owner of the collection, at the exhibition’s opening, per the Associated Press’ Geir Moulson.

Scharf said he hopes visitors will draw connections between artworks from different time periods and genres—such as how Monet’s hazy blue Waterloo Bridge (1903) informs Grosse’s works, which were created a century later.

The exhibition begins with etchings by Goya, such as his series Disasters of War (1810-1820), according to Euronews’ Leticia Batista Cabanas. It continues through Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. Finally, the show ends with modern and contemporary artworks, such as Daniel Richter’s We’ll Never Stop Living This Way (2009).

In addition to seeing renowned artworks in person, visitors will “dive deep into the historical developments” and “learn about the different personalities who have been collecting and preserving the collection,” Anette Hüsch, director of the Alte Nationalgalerie, tells Artnet’s Jo Lawson-Tancred.

Waterloo Bridge, Claude Monet, 1903 The Scharf Collection

The collection was started by Scharf’s great-grandfather, Otto Gerstenberg, who led a life insurance company in Berlin. Born in 1848, Gerstenberg began his art collection by acquiring prints by old masters like Albrecht Dürer, Goya and Rembrandt, according to the museum. Around 1900, he started collecting French impressionists like Monet and Edgar Degas. As his interests continued to expand, he acquired a large collection of art by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and some of these works are “a centerpiece of the show,” per the AP.

When Gerstenberg died in 1935, he had collected some 2,200 artworks. During World War II, some pieces were destroyed by air raids or looted by Russian soldiers, but his daughter, Margarethe Scharf, saved most of the collection. In 1961, the surviving artworks went to her sons, Walther and Dieter Scharf, who incorporated them into their own art collections.

Dieter developed an interest in Surrealists like Salvador Dalí, while Walther and his wife, Eve, maintained a focus on 19th-century French art, according to Artnet. The couple added more Impressionist paintings by Monet, Degas and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, along with works by Post-Impressionists like Paul Cézanne and Pierre Bonnard. Their son, René Scharf, is the current owner of the collection. René and his wife, Christiane, have since added contemporary paintings by artists such as Grosse, Richter and Sam Francis.

We'll Never Stop Living This Way, Daniel Richter, 2009 The Scharf Collection / Jens Ziehe / VG Bild-Kunst

The family has loaned individual pieces from the collection to museums, but many of the artworks in the exhibition have never been publicly displayed. As Scharf tells the AP, when the Alte Nationalgalerie first contacted him about showing the collection, “We asked ourselves, ‘What happens if we do nothing?’ Then maybe 30, 40 or 50 people per year will see the collection, and only a very small part of it, because we can’t hang everything at home.”

In the end, the family decided that the artworks should be displayed for anyone who wants to see them. “The collection deserves to be seen publicly,” he says.

“The Scharf Collection: Goya—Monet—Cézanne—Bonnard—Grosse” is on view at the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin through February 15, 2026.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/author/sonja-anderson/

Berlin - Art Events, Openings Summer/Fall 2016.

Berlin - Art Events, Openings Summer/Fall 2016. A major force in Berlin’s cultural calendar, end-of-summer art showings underscore city’s significanc A major force in Berlin’s cultural calendar, end-of-summer art showings underscore city’s significance as a major player in the art world.  Since the fall of the Berlin wall, Berlin has found its place as a leading art destination. The city is known as a place where art is created and where world-class works are on display in the city’s museums and galleries. Some of summer/fall 2016 highlights are listed below ►9th Berlin biennale for Contemporary Art  until September 18, 2016 at various locations  Since its inception in 1998, the Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art has become one of the art world’s premier cultural events. It brings together some of the most influential artists, thinkers, and personalities and presents a cross section of artworks by internationally renowned as well as emerging artists. Each edition of the Biennale features around 50 Berlin-based artists with the majority of them producing new works for the exhibition. The events explore artistic developments to present, the unseen and the unfamiliar at the core of Berlin’s inspiring atmosphere. The New York based collective DIS are the curatorial team of this year’s Biennale edition. The upcoming events will function as a platform for collaboration of different kinds, embracing contradiction, blurriness, and confusion. ►Dada Africa: Dialogue with the Foreign  August 5 – November 7, 2016  2016 marks the 100th anniversary of Dadaism and the Berlinische Galerie will throw a big party to celebrate the occasion. About 120 works from collections in Germany and abroad will be presented in five sections. Dadaist works engage in a direct dialogue with artifacts from Africa, Asia and Oceania. The show reveals how much the Dadaists looked to art beyond Europe in formulating their new aesthetic departures. DADA’s revolutionary attack on traditional notions of art and culture in the early 20th century laid the groundwork even then for new ways of seeing the Other. ►Long Night of Museums  August 27, 2016  Berlin’s popular Long Night of Museums is poised to again become an inspiring and fun late night event, when some 100 large and small museums, presenting established and new collections, open their doors from 6 pm Saturday evening until 2 am Sunday morning. Music, theater, and culinary events will enhance the permanent and temporary exhibitions and promise to make the nighttime museum visit a unique experience. Buy just one ticket and you get unlimited access to a special shuttle bus service and admission to all participating venues and events. ►5th Berlin Art Week  September 13-18, 2016, various locations  A key fall event, the Berlin Art Week is dedicated to contemporary art and combines exhibitions, art fairs, art awards, and an auxiliary program featuring talks, films, and tours. The Berlin Art Week provides new, surprising insights into private collections, project spaces, and the city’s sites of artistic production. Center pieces this year will again be the art fairs abc art berlin contemporary and Positions Berlin – Art Fair. ►European Month of Photography  October 1 – 31, 2016, various locations  Since 2004, the European Month of Photography has been taking place every two years in Berlin, presenting a wide range of exhibitions and events on historic and contemporary photography. The largest German festival for photography presents a collaboration of museums, cultural institutions, galleries, embassies, project spaces, as well as local photography schools. On the occasion of its 10th anniversary 2014, the EMOP Berlin had an impressive record to its name: 2 million visitors, 500 exhibitions by as many partner institutions, 30,000 photographic works shown, and 2,000 participating photographers. ►Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Hieroglyphics  September 23 – February 12, 2017 at Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum for Contemporary Art  Referring to his cityscape paintings, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, the German expressionist painter and one of the founders of the artists group “Die Brücke“, spoke of "hieroglyphs as signs of expression." Immediate ecstasy, Kirchner wrote, leads already in the preliminary sketch to "complete hieroglyphs." The variety of visual experience, "ecstasy," is reduced to abbreviations, to eloquent details such as hats, shoe tips, window frames, or bridge arches. With this focus, the upcoming exhibition directs attention toward 18 works by the artist in the museum's own collection, ranging from the early Seated Nude of the Dresden Brücke period, to Bathers on the Beach and dense works Meadow Flowers and Cat from the artist's late works. ►Feuerle Collection opens in former WWII bunker  October 2016  Collector Désiré Feuerle is planning to open a private museum in late 2016, to house his collection of international contemporary and Southeast Asian art, as well as Chinese design. Just like the well-known Boros Collection, the Feuerle Collection will be permanently be displayed in a former World War II telecommunications bunker, which has been refurbished by British architect John Pawson. The museum aims to provoke a dialogue between works of different cultures and eras. After a sneak preview during the 9th Berlin Biennale, the official grand opening of the Feuerle Collection will be celebrated in October 2016. More information on travel to Berlin www.visitBerlin.com.