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Berlin (dpa) - With the Berggruen Collection, one of the most important collections with works of classical modernism is to go on an international promotion tour.
"When the Berggruen Museum goes into renovation, we want to advertise the collection," said the President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, Hermann Parzinger, of the German Press Agency in Berlin.
"We discussed with the family that this great collection is touring the world, there are already plans with Japan and China, so we can make it even better known."
The collection goes back to the Berlin art dealer and collector Heinz Berggruen (1914-2007).
As a descendant of a Jewish family, he fled the Nazis to the USA in 1936.
After the war he founded a gallery in Paris and became one of the leading art dealers.
He was friends with many artists and collected their works.
The collection includes more than 120 works by Pablo Picasso, around 70 works by Paul Klee and works by Henri Matisse, Alberto Giacometti, Georges Braque and Paul Cézanne.
"I believe that one could not wish for better advertising for the art city of Berlin, for the National Gallery, for the Museum Berggruen," said Parzinger.
The museum is part of the National Gallery, which, like all Berlin State Museums, belongs to the foundation.
The Berggruen Museum is located in the western Stüler building opposite the Charlottenburg Palace.
The upcoming fundamental renovation work has not yet been scheduled.
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Those responsible for the ongoing renovation of the Neue Nationalgalerie with works from the 20th century until the 1960s did not take a similar step.
«I would have liked that for the Neue Nationalgalerie too.
In this respect, I think they have already missed an opportunity to position the collection worldwide, ”said Parzinger.
"One could have shown how this collection was rebuilt after the unspeakable losses during the Nazi rule and that today it is again one of the great collections on modernism worldwide."
After six years of renovation work, the iconic low-rise building by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) is due to reopen next year.
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