Samuelis Baumgarte Galerie

Samuelis Baumgarte Galerie, Bielefeld/Zurich, presents at Munich HIGHLIGHTS 2026 a carefully curated selection of outstanding works from its current exhibition, “BERLIN – City of Extremes. From Ernst Ludwig Kirchner to the Present.”

Few other metropolises have been as profoundly shaped by social contrasts, political upheavals and radical artistic renewal as Berlin throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. The exhibition begins with Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s expressionist visions of the modern metropolis and traces a path through the unflinching social studies of George Grosz, Georg Tappert and Käthe Kollwitz to the abstract, figurative and socially engaged positions of the post-war period and the present day.

Berlin emerges not merely as a subject, but as a resonant space for an entire era – suspended between renewal and destruction, division and reunification, freedom and existential uncertainty. The works brought together here open up a multifaceted art-historical dialogue about a city whose extremes continue to challenge and shape artistic expression to this day.

Masterworks by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, George Grosz, Emil Nolde, Georg Tappert, Käthe Kollwitz, Oskar Schlemmer and Lesser Ury enter into a compelling dialogue with outstanding positions of post-war and contemporary art, including Wolf Vostell, Fred Thieler, Rainer Fetting, Salomé, Heike Ruschmeyer and Norbert Bisky.

The accompanying exhibition catalogue, featuring numerous illustrations of the works and in-depth art-historical essays, can be viewed via the corresponding button on this page.

We look forward to welcoming you to the Munich Residenz from the VIP Preview on 13 October and the Vernissage on 14 October 2026. The fair will be open to the public from 15 to 18 October 2026.