Bereichsnavigation
A painting by Bernhard Heisig, long thought to be lost, returns to Dresden
Press release from 09/15/2026
According to research carried out by the MHMBw and the SPK, Bernhard Heisig’s painting “Encounter with Images” (c. 1981) had been held in the collection of the National Gallery in Berlin since the late 1980s, on loan from the predecessor museum of the Bundeswehr Military History Museum (the Army Museum of the GDR). Both institutions have now agreed to its return to the MHMBw and are in agreement: “An important work is returning to Dresden.”
Invitation to a photo session on 24 September 2026 at 2.00 pm at the Bundeswehr Military History Museum (MHMBw) in Dresden
Attending the photo opportunity:
- Senior Research Fellow Martin Rademacher, Deputy Head of the Collections and Research Department at the MHMBw,
- Dr Sven Haase, Research Associate for Provenance Research, Central Archive of the Berlin State Museums / Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK),
- Senior Research Councillor Katja Protte, Head of the Art Section at the MHMBw
Colonel Dr Dr Rudolf J. Schlaffer, Director of the Bundeswehr Military History Museum, explains: “The Bundeswehr Military History Museum owns several important paintings by Bernhard Heisig. Nevertheless, it is something quite special that this work is returning to Dresden. Heisig’s approach – of viewing encounters with images of past wars as an opportunity to reflect and develop one’s own perspective – is an approach that also shapes the work of the Bundeswehr Military History Museum.”
Marion Ackermann, President of the SPK, explains: “It is not always possible to reconstruct the provenance of cultural heritage in its entirety. It is essential to tell the stories transparently – including the gaps. On the basis of our joint research, we are able to return a significant work to the Bundeswehr Military History Museum in Dresden, one that for years was considered to have ceased to exist.”
In preparation for the forthcoming exhibition ‘Art on Command? Works on the National People’s Army of the GDR’, the Bundeswehr Military History Museum is stepping up its research into its art collections from the GDR era. A painting by Bernhard Heisig entitled ‘Encounter with Images’ was catalogued in the 1980s at the GDR Army Museum under the reference number Hc-740. The Army Museum was renamed the “Military History Museum” in March 1990 and the “Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr” in 1994. However, Heisig’s painting had not, until now, been part of the Dresden museum’s collection.
A note in the online collection database of the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin regarding a painting by Heisig with the same title led to an enquiry in Berlin. Researchers at the Neue Nationalgalerie and the Central Archive of the Berlin State Museums, part of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, investigated the provenance of the painting ‘Begegnung mit Bildern’ by Bernhard Heisig listed there. As the artist created several works with this title in different versions, the question of the work’s identity was crucial. Following an exchange of information and documentation between the institutions involved, it can be considered certain that the painting – which is not listed in Berlin’s inventory but is recorded as a ‘loan’ – is the work from Dresden that had been believed lost.
The dimensions of the painting inventoried in Dresden in the 1980s are identical to those of the painting in Berlin. On the reverse of the painting’s stretcher frame, ‘Hc-740’ is noted – the Dresden inventory number. Furthermore, on the reverse of a photograph of the work, presumably taken in the 1990s, held in the central archive of the SMB-SPK, the following is written: ‘Permanent loan, Dresden: Military History Museum, (Loan Inv. 459)’. It remains unclear since when and why the work has been in the National Gallery’s collection.
Bernhard Heisig: ‘Encounter with Images’
From the late 1970s onwards, Bernhard Heisig (1925–2011) created several individual works as well as a triptych under the title ‘Encounter with Images’, of which several versions exist and have existed. The complicated history of its creation makes it difficult to unequivocally determine the identity of the work listed in the Dresden inventory
‘Encounter with Images’ (c. 1981, oil on canvas, height x width: 101 x 80 cm) is a portrait of Heisig’s younger son, Walter Eisler. During a visit to his studio by his son, who was called up for military service in 1975, Heisig noticed the similarity between the NVA uniform and the Wehrmacht uniforms. Through his son’s encounter with images of his grandfather from the First World War and his father from the Second World War, Heisig sought to make his son aware of the continuity of German militarism. In the background, the artist references Otto Dix’s triptych *The War*; a soldier from the First World War gazes over the shoulder of the subject.
The Bundeswehr Military History Museum in Dresden will be exhibiting the work as part of its forthcoming exhibition ‘Art on Command? Works on the National People’s Army of the GDR’, running from 9 October 2026 to 31 August 2027.
SUMMARY
When: Thursday, 24 September 2026 at 2.00 pm
Accreditation available on site from 1.30 pm, or please send the completed accreditation form to mhmpressestelle@bundeswehr.org by Tuesday, 22 September 2026
Venue: Bundeswehr
Military History Museum, Olbrichtplatz 2
01099 Dresden
Press contact: Press Office of the Bundeswehr Military History Museum, Dresden
Captain Tim Ochsmann
Email: mhmpressestelle(at)bundeswehr(dot)org
Tel.: +49 0351 823 2759
www.mhmbw.de
Press Office of the Prussian Cultural Heritage
Foundation Birgit Jöbstl
Email: pressestelle(at)hv.spk-berlin(dot)de
Tel.: +49 30 26641 1440
www.preussischer-kulturbesitz.de
Further information: Press section of the Bundeswehr Military History Museum
