2016 - News - Detail Page - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz

Heiner Pietzsch, the well-known Berlin entrepreneur and great patron of the arts, is dead. He died on Tuesday evening in a Berlin clinic at an advanced age after a long illness.

Together with his wife Ulla, he personally attended the ceremony for the reopening of the Neue Nationalgalerie at the end of August 2021 with great interest. His joy at the newly shining building, the architectural icon by Mies van der Rohe, was unmistakable. Heiner Pietzsch hoped so much that his ninth decade of life, which had begun so difficult and with very few contacts due to the coronavirus pandemic, could now lead to more cultural encounters again. That was his elixir of life.

With patronage and generosity, Heiner Pietzsch, together with his wife Ulla, made an extremely rich gift to the public and to the collections of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Mr and Mrs Pietzsch donated their outstanding art collection, which had become his life's work, to the State of Berlin, and the National Museums in Berlin and their National Gallery are the guardians of this immense collection. It is and always has been a rich treasure for the Nationalgalerie for special exhibitions. With this collection, a painful gap in the Nationalgalerie's holdings can be filled. Heiner Pietzsch has been associated with the Nationalgalerie for decades and was a member of the board of the Verein der Freunde as treasurer for several years.
The donation of the Pietzsch Collection to the public purse was also central to the political decision in favour of the museum building for the 20th century at the Kulturforum, which is currently under construction. There, the collection of Ulla and Heiner Pietzsch will be presented in all its richness and significance. Heiner Pietzsch was initially cautiously sceptical as to whether all this could become reality, but in the end he was convinced that this new museum building would be an incredible home for his extraordinary and rich collection.

SPK President Hermann Parzinger praised Heiner Pietzsch as "a strong personality with a keen eye for the art of classical modernism, combined with an entrepreneurial flair for what is feasible. He was not easily convinced, but when he was convinced, he stood by his decisions. Especially in recent years, when he was able to devote himself more intensively to his own art collection, in which he loved to live, the exchange of ideas with him was always a cultural delight. These conversations will always remain in my memory and I will continue them with Ulla Pietzsch in the spirit of Heiner Pietzsch."

The Director General of the National Museums in Berlin, Michael Eissenhauer, emphasised: "The National Museums in Berlin are deeply indebted to Heiner Pietzsch. In him we have lost an art-loving and extremely generous friend and patron. With his generous donations and gifts, he decisively shaped the Nationalgalerie and closed sensitive gaps in the 20th century collection. We honour his work and his human greatness and our thoughts are with his wife Ulla and his family."

The acting director of the Nationalgalerie, Joachim Jäger, said: "In Heiner Pietzsch, the Nationalgalerie has lost one of its greatest partners and patrons. The Berlin entrepreneur had been closely associated with the Nationalgalerie for decades. He was one of the co-founders of the "Verein der Freunde der Nationalgalerie", still the most important museum association in Germany today. Together with his wife Ulla, he built up a high-calibre and overwhelming collection of Surrealist art, which he donated to the state of Berlin and the Nationalgalerie. A selection of these works has been on display again at the Neue Nationalgalerie since the end of August. We are delighted that Heiner Pietzsch was able to live to see the reopening of the museum. He will always be remembered by the Nationalgalerie as a great friend and passionate supporter of the arts."

The Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and the Nationalgalerie are deeply indebted to Heiner Pietzsch and will always honour his memory.

The Pietzsch Collection is one of the outstanding German private collections of classical modernism. At its core are high-calibre works of Surrealism in Paris and Abstract Expressionism of the New York School, including works by Max Ernst, René Magritte, Joan Miró, Salvador Dalí, Paul Delvaux and Jackson Pollock, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell and Barnett Newman, as well as Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.

The donation from 2010 to the State of Berlin comprises a total of around 150 paintings, drawings and sculptures with an estimated value of 120 million euros. It was given by the State of Berlin to the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation as a permanent loan for the National Gallery of the National Museums in Berlin. The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation will ensure a permanent presentation of parts of the collection in the context of its collection of Classical Modernism.

Press photo: www.preussischer-kulturbesitz.de/newsroom/presse.html