Detail page - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz

The "Karlsruhe Sketchbook" by Caspar David Friedrich is staying in Germany! The Klassik Stiftung Weimar, the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz have joined forces in an extraordinary partnership to acquire this important object. The purchase was made possible by the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung, the Kulturstiftung der Länder and other sponsors.

The book will be on display for five weeks from 12 July 2024 as part of the exhibition "(Un)seen Stories" in the Kupferstichkabinett of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin at the Kulturforum before it travels to Dresden for the Caspar David Friedrich exhibition "Where it all began". It will then be shown in the exhibition "Caspar David Friedrich, Goethe and Romanticism in Weimar" at the Schiller Museum in Weimar. The three museums will continue to present the book alternately in the future.

"We are crowning the Caspar David Friedrich Year with this bold coup. We all realised that we had to preserve this important work in Germany. I am happy and grateful that we have succeeded in doing this in good co-operation with the major German cultural foundations," says SPK President Hermann Parzinger.

Ulrike Lorenz, President of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar, explains: "We are proud that three major German cultural institutions with important graphic art collections have been able to forge a consortium and build on the generous support of strong partners, who have also honoured the trusting and equal cooperation. It is certainly an exemplary and important sign in the cultural landscape that such an outstanding artistic and art-historical gem as the 'Karlsruhe Sketchbook' can be secured for the public if we work together."

Marion Ackermann, Director General of the Dresden State Art Collections, explains: "How gratifying that this joint acquisition by three cultural institutions has been made possible with the generous support of our partners, above all the Ernst von Siemens Art Foundation. This could also become a future model of museum acquisition policy: Sharing is the new having!"

Markus Hilgert, Secretary General of the Kulturstiftung der Länder, commented: "These are such great acquisitions that the Kulturstiftung der Länder was founded to support. I am delighted that in future visitors will be able to use this sketchbook to trace the creative process and the creation of Caspar David Friedrich's almost iconic paintings, which we are sponsoring four exhibitions on for good reason in this anniversary year - in Hamburg, Berlin, Greifswald and Dresden. I am extremely grateful to the three museums and the co-sponsors for the trusting alliance and very happy about the success."

"Auctions show what German museums and funding foundations can achieve. Within a very short time and with great discretion, funds are made available and high-calibre works of art are assessed in terms of their content and financial value. After the sketchbook was placed under protection and the initially successful bidder withdrew, the Ernst von Siemens Art Foundation was able to acquire it at its own risk in close co-operation with the Grisebach auction house and has since handed it over to the museums. It can now be shown in the upcoming exhibitions in the anniversary year. A great gift to us all," says a delighted Martin Hoernes, Secretary General of the Ernst von Siemens Art Foundation.
Caspar David Friedrich, the most important painter of German Romanticism, is still regarded today as an important figure of artistic identification. His enormous national and international influence will be honoured in a series of major exhibitions to mark the 250th anniversary of his birth in 2024.

Friedrich's "Karlsruhe Sketchbook" is a hitherto little-known gem with study drawings from the Dresden area, made between April and June 1804. It is of outstanding artistic and art-historical importance, as it allows a direct look into Friedrich's working methods and offers a variety of references to executed drawings and paintings. Sketchbooks were Friedrich's most personal artistic testimony and served him as a reservoir of pictorial motifs throughout his life. The small "Karlsruher Skizzenbuch" (18.4 × 11.8 cm) with its only 33 used pages was used for the artist's absolute main works, which are considered key works of German Romanticism. In Berlin, this concerns - alongside the lost "Klosterfriedhof im Schnee" - the "Abtei im Eichwald", one of the most important works of Romanticism in terms of reception history. For Weimar, the sepia sheets submitted by Friedrich for the artist competition organised by Goethe for the "Weimar Prize Tasks" in 1805, such as the "Pilgrimage at Sunset", are particularly noteworthy. Preparatory drawings in the sketchbook in Dresden refer to the "Hünengrab im Schnee" and "Das Große Gehege", the artist's epoch-making late major work.

Only six of the artist's more than 20 sketchbooks have survived to this day. Four of them are kept by the National Museum in Oslo, only one was previously in German museum ownership: in the Kupferstich-Kabinett Dresden. Now the last known privately owned sketchbook has been secured for the public. It was put up for auction on 30 November 2023 at the Grisebach auction house with an estimated price of 1 to 1.5 million euros.

The "Karlsruhe Sketchbook" is a central connecting element of the three participating cultural institutions. With the joint acquisition, they would also like to send a signal of solidarity, which has now made it possible to keep this extraordinarily important work in the country and to alternately and jointly preserve, research, exhibit and make it accessible to the public in the print collections of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar, the Kupferstichkabinett of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz and the Kupferstich-Kabinett of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.

Exhibition dates

Karlsruhe Sketchbook" until 18 August 2024 in Berlin in the
exhibition "(Un)seen Stories. Searching, Seeing, Making Visible"
Kupferstichkabinett der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin
Matthäikirchplatz, 10785 Berlin
Opening hours: Wed - Fri 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sat / Sun 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Until 4 August in Berlin: "Caspar David Friedrich. Infinite Landscapes"
Exhibition of the Old National Gallery of the National Museums in Berlin
Museumsinsel Berlin, 10178 Berlin

"Caspar David Friedrich. Where it all began"

Exhibition of the Dresden State Art Collections
Residenzschloss 24 August 2024 - 17 November 2024

Albertinum until 5 January 2025
"Caspar David Friedrich, Goethe and Romanticism in Weimar"
Exhibition of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar
Schiller Museum, 22 November 2024 - 2 March 2025

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

www.klassik-stiftung.de/service/presse/