Sculpture Collection

Reopening June 20, 2010

In the 18th century, the Antiquities Collection founded by August the Strong was the most important of its kind north of the Alps. Today, the museum houses works spanning more than 5,000 years of history, beginning with the early cultures of the Mediterranean region and the Middle East, and extending through the various epochs of European sculpture from medieval times to the present.

The innovative museum concept marks a new beginning in the presentation of art in Dresden and displays the art of the modern period from the beginning of the 19th century up to the present day. For the Skulpturensammlung the modern era begins with works by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. He heralded the age of modern statuary art and sculpture and is regarded as the forerunner of numerous styles which developed in the 20th century. The works of the classical modern period and of post-1945 sculpture on show in the exhibition extend Rodin’s principle – that of the subjectivity of art – to the contemporary era.

The exhibition pays particular attention to art in the GDR through the display of works by such artists as Wieland Förster, Werner Stötzer and Helmut Heinze. The Klingersaal – designed by the Skulpturensammlung and the Galerie Neue Meister as a space in which the spirit of an epoch can be sensed through its art – is devoted to the art of the late 19th century, the ‘Fin de Siècle’, illustrated through works by Arnold Böcklin and Max Klinger down to Franz von Stuck and Sascha Schneider. The Mosaiksaal is dedicated to the theme of morality, exemplified by sculptures from the Classicist period with particular emphasis on Ernst Rietschel.

The Skulpturensammlung holds works dating from more than five millennia – from the cultures of classical antiquity via all the various periods of European statuary art from the early Middle Ages down to the present day. In a few years’ time the core holdings of the collection – the Antiquities Collection which includes sculptures such as the “Dresden Boy”, as well as vases, bronzes and terracottas – will be presented in a new exhibition in the Osthalle (eastern wing) of the Semper Building, which was originally designed by Gottfried Semper to house the classical sculptures. Until then, visitors can get a foretaste of the future exhibition in the experimental display storeroom in the Albertinum, where a selection of the sculptures will be on view.