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Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, thanks the collector: "It is a great stroke of luck that the new building for 20th century art was decided last year - for the Nationalgalerie, for the art city of Berlin. And this decision is already having a real knock-on effect: Erich Marx has decided to leave this icon of Beuys' work to the Nationalgalerie for this reason alone. What news! The Foundation is deeply indebted to him."

Michael Eissenhauer, Director General of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, adds: "With 'Das Kapital', the Marx Collection is crowning Joseph Beuys' important body of work with a key work. The loan to the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin closes a circle for us: thirty years ago, Erich Marx stood at the beginning of our Hamburg station. With him at our side, we are now setting off for our Museum of Modern Art."

Erich Marx comments: "Out of a deep attachment to the art city of Berlin, I decided years ago to make my collection available to the Nationalgalerie on permanent loan. After many years of good co-operation, I am delighted to be able to supplement this permanent loan with another key work by Joseph Beuys, an artist with whom I also had a personal friendship. With the acquisition of this work, my collecting activities have reached a final climax."

Monika Grütters, Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and Minister of State to the Federal Chancellor, says: "The new Museum of 20th Century Art is a project that owes its creation not least to significant donations and loans. The generous offer of the three collectors Marx, Pietzsch and Marzona to leave us their collections was the main impetus for the planning of the Museum der Moderne, alongside the desire to be able to show more of the Neue Nationalgalerie's own collection. The marvellous decision to build the museum has already resulted in further gifts: with the new permanent loan from Erich Marx, 'Das Kapital Raum 1970-1977' by Joseph Beuys, a key work has now been added. The dimensions of 'Das Kapital Raum 1970-1977' alone make it a huge work of art, requiring 8 metre high walls and an area of at least 100 square metres. The Museum of Modern Art, which we are currently launching, allows us to take these requirements into account in the spatial programme right from the start. The 'Capital' is like an artistic balance sheet of Joseph Bey's work, made up of remnants of other works and relics of his 'documenta' contributions. It is also overwhelming in its social aspirations and spiritual dimension. In the not too distant future, we will be able to see this work next door here in the newly built museum on Potsdamer Strasse - and in the context it deserves: in the collection of the Nationalgalerie, in the neighbourhood of many other important works of the 20th century. I would like to thank Mr Marx for sending another strong signal for the new museum with this loan."

"The Capital Room 1970-1977"

Joseph Beuys created the environment "Das Kapital Raum 1970-1977" for the central room of the international pavilion at the 1980 Venice Biennale, using elements from earlier performances such as the action "Celtic (Kinnloch Rannoch)" and "Celtic + ~~~~" as well as 50 chalkboards created during documenta V in 1972 and documenta VI in 1977. "Das Kapital Raum 1970-1977" can thus be interpreted as the sum of the most important stations and impulses of the artist's previous ten creative years. In 1984, Beuys installed the work in the Hallen für Neue Kunst in Schaffhausen in a version adapted to the spatial conditions. In the meantime, it was also shown in other installation forms, for example in 1981 at the InK, Halle für internationale neue Kunst, Zurich, or in 1983 at the exhibition "Der Hang zum Gesamtkunstwerk" at the Zurich Kunsthaus. Erich Marx acquired the work last year after the ownership situation had been clarified with the Hallen für Neue Kunst in Schaffhausen.

The environment consists of 27 objects, some of which are doubles, as well as the aforementioned black wooden panels labelled with chalk. One object that dominates the room is an open concert grand piano (model "Imperial" Austria Bösendorfer Vienna No. 33686) with an axe leaning against it. A spear, the tip of which is made of red tape, leans against a jackknife pierced into the wall. Also leaning against a wall are two wooden slats. A zinc tub half-filled with water in which a piece of white linen is floating, two torches attached to the handles of the tub, a zinc watering can also filled with water, a white enamel bowl containing a bar of curd soap and two towels with blue stripes form a group of objects. Small pieces of gelatine are piled up on a silver-plated round lid. The environment also includes a wooden folding ladder with more gelatine shavings on the rungs, a wooden stick, two empty milk glass bottles and nine small pebbles. Some of the chalkboards are lying on the floor (10 pieces), while others are hanging (36 wall boards) or leaning (4 large standing boards) against the wall. The work also includes technical equipment, such as two film projectors, a projection screen, a microphone, tape recorders, loudspeakers and headphones. They are connected to the electrical circuit via sockets on the wall, and some are also connected to each other with cables. However, they are not in operation, nothing can be seen on the screen, nothing can be heard from the loudspeakers. In Schaffhausen, the work occupies a space measuring 11.93 x 12.61 x 8.40 metres.

Beuys and the Marx Collection at the Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart - Berlin

The Hamburger Bahnhof was opened in 1996 with the works of the Marx Collection. The collection is on permanent loan to the Nationalgalerie and is presented by the museum's curators in changing exhibitions. At the centre of the Marx Collection are six major artistic personalities of the late 20th century: Joseph Beuys, Anselm Kiefer, Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol. The collection contains comprehensive bodies of work by each of these artists, making it possible to trace their artistic development. Numerous works by these artists are on permanent display.

The National Gallery in Berlin is one of the most important centres for Beuys' art in the world. For many years, the Nationalgalerie's collection has included the work "Richtkräfte", which consists of 100 black, labelled blackboards that emerged from a four-week action in London (1974) and an environment in New York. Thanks to the permanent loan from the Marx Collection, Berlin is also home to such famous works as "The End of the 20th Century" (1982-1983), "Unschlitt/Tallow" and "Tram Stop" as well as the 456 drawings from "The secret block for a secret person in Ireland". In 2008/09, the Nationalgalerie organised "Beuys. The Revolution is Us", one of the largest retrospective exhibitions of the artist's work; in 2011/12, together with the Art Tower Museum in Mito (Japan), it showed "Joseph Beuys 8 Days in Japan and the Utopia EURASIA", a sensational exhibition with the first release of 30 hours of film material.

Further links

• Press photos
• Picture gallery of the press conference on 24 February 2015
• National Gallery
• Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum for Contemporary Art - Berlin