Martin Brandenburg and Hans Baluschek – A friendship of two artists

The exhibition looks at an unusual friendship between two Berlin artists during the early 20^th century. Martin Brandenburg and Hans Baluschek both rejected the traditional rules of academic painting and were early members of the Berlin Secession. But as close as the artists might have been to one another in private life, in their painting they took very distinct paths. While Baluscheck often drew attention with impressive scenes showing everyday and workday worlds and the impact of industrialization, Brandenburg retreated to the world of the fantastic.

The exhibition at Bröhan-Museum with around 30 works presents not only two unusual artists from early Berlin modernism, but two seemingly contrary views of art: while Baluschek’s realism reacts directly to the life reality around him and seeks to actively shape it, Brandenburg’s symbolism stands in the service of a psychological-sensual exploration of his surroundings.