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The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and the National Museums in Berlin mourn the loss of the great collector Erich Marx, who died yesterday evening at the age of 99. SPK President Hermann Parzinger reacted with sadness: "Erich Marx was a great and at the same time a modest man. Everything he did was characterised by vital passion - including his love of art and collecting. For us, however, he was not only an important collector, but also a patron of the arts who was concerned with the well-being of Berlin as an art city. Without him, the Hamburger Bahnhof would not exist. The Nationalgalerie has been working with his loans for over twenty years now, and it was a work with and about the 20th century. With his collection, Erich Marx has repeatedly posed questions about this century. From the moment he consciously decided to collect, he concentrated on a few artists whose works particularly fascinated him: Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly and Joseph Beuys, Anselm Kiefer, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Liechtenstein and a few others. These were artists belonging to his generation in whom he recognised, as he himself put it, 'the experiences and fears of our time' as a unifying element. And by limiting himself to these contemporaries, he has created an outstanding collection that contains important works, indeed key works by these artists. They are all represented by impressive groups of works that make their respective artistic development comprehensible. This, too, was part of his carefully considered idea from the very beginning: his collection was also intended to fulfil the requirements of a museum. His grand gesture five years ago, when he acquired the fascinating environment "Das Kapital Raum 1970-1977" by Joseph Beuys as the crowning achievement of his life's work and made it available to the Nationalgalerie on permanent loan, is unforgettable. For him, this was a 'final highlight'. In the future Museum of the 20th Century at the Kulturforum, this work and his collection will find a new place in a new context. We will not forget Erich Marx."

On behalf of the Directorate General of the National Museums in Berlin, Michael Eissenhauer and Christina Haak said: "As a great patron of the arts, Erich Marx played a key role in shaping the history of the National Museums in Berlin and the reconstruction of the Nationalgalerie's collection after the Second World War. Through his commitment and generosity, he made a decisive contribution to opening up the Nationalgalerie in the Hamburger Bahnhof and the city of Berlin to international contemporary art. As co-founder of the Association of Friends of the Nationalgalerie, he supported the work of the Nationalgalerie with passion and enthusiasm and significantly expanded its scope of action. We are deeply indebted to him for this. Our sincere condolences go to the family and descendants of Erich Marx."

On behalf of the Nationalgalerie, Gabriele Knapstein and Joachim Jäger said: "In Erich Marx, we have lost a long-standing supporter and companion of the Nationalgalerie. His important collection of contemporary art was first shown to the public in 1982 in the upper hall of the Neue Nationalgalerie. In order to give this collection a place in Berlin, the Hamburger Bahnhof was expanded into the Museum für Gegenwart and opened in 1996 with the Marx Collection and works from the Nationalgalerie. In recent years, Erich Marx in turn played a major role in the creation of a new Nationalgalerie building, the Museum of 20th Century Art at the Kulturforum. He often visited our buildings and was delighted by the many visitors, especially from the younger generations, who experienced the works in his collection here. It was an honour for us to be able to share his enjoyment of art and art appreciation with him. We are losing a great friend of art."

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