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The Berggruen Museum of the National Museums in Berlin, which is part of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK), will significantly expand its programme work and gain greater independence to do so. Under the direction of the current curator Gabriel Montua, there will be additional exhibitions, supplementary accompanying programmes and more intensive cooperation with museums and collectors in Germany and abroad in order to be able to offer visitors a constant stream of new and attractive attractions. To make this possible, the Berggruen family will support the museum with one million euros annually once the refurbishment is complete, probably in 2025. This was agreed by the family, represented by Nicolas and Olivier Berggruen, and the SPK following discussions with the Chair of the SPK Foundation Council, Minister of State Monika Grütters, and the President of the SPK, Hermann Parzinger. A committee consisting of representatives of the family, the SPK and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM) will decide on the use of the funds provided by the Berggruen family. This will further intensify the co-operation between the Berggruen family and the SPK, which was founded by the art collector Heinz Berggruen.

Minister of State for Culture Monika Grütters: "Even among the numerous top museums that Germany's cultural landscape has to offer, the Museum Berggruen is a real gem. I would therefore like to thank the Berggruen family very much for the generous support they will be giving this museum in the future. With this enormous financial contribution, which will further enhance the Museum Berggruen's appeal, the Berggruen family is continuing Heinz Berggruen's impressive commitment to his home city of Berlin. The Museum Berggruen will thus be given even more independence in line with the ongoing reform process of the SPK."

Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, added: "For years, the Foundation and the Nationalgalerie have maintained a special and intensive relationship with the Berggruen family. The house has become a very special brand within the Nationalgalerie. This is all the more impressive because this name once again belongs to a city from which Heinz Berggruen was once expelled. I am delighted that, together with his family, we are able to strengthen and further develop the museum and thus also our location in Charlottenburg as a whole. I would like to thank Nicolas and Olivier Berggruen very much for this commitment, which is anything but a matter of course in these times. Heinz Berggruen's legacy lives on in the next generation in a wonderful way, which is both a pleasure and an honour for us."

Nicolas Berggruen: "The family sees it as our father Heinz Berggruen's legacy to actively support the museum to which he entrusted his collection. We have been doing this for years, for example through the Friends of the Berggruen Museum, which we founded, an International Council and our international network. With the realisation of the successful exhibition "Picasso & Les Femmes d'Alger", we have once again taken our cooperation to a new level, and we want to make this permanent. The Museum Berggruen should set an example for modern, creative and future-orientated museum work and at the same time encourage people to get involved in Berlin's culture. We want to make our contribution to this."

Since 1996, the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (SMB) have been exhibiting the Berggruen Collection, which goes back to the important art collector Heinz Berggruen (1914 - 2007). It consists mainly of works by Pablo Picasso, supplemented by outstanding works by other artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries such as Henri Matisse, Paul Klee and Paul Cézanne. In addition to the extensive collection of 167 works acquired by the SPK in 2000 with funds from the Federal Government and the State of Berlin, the museum also has works on loan from the Berggruen family's private collection. The museum is one of the main attractions of Berlin's museum landscape. Its greater independence will also be reflected in the fact that the current curator Gabriel Montua will become the director of the Museum Berggruen. In view of the upcoming refurbishment of the building, the budget of 1 million euros per year is to be made available by the Berggruen family for the first time for the reopening in 2025. In the meantime, measures are already being financed to enable the museum to continue offering its services to the public during the closure period.