Paintings & Sculptures

Paintings

The Staatliche Museum Schwerin  has one of the most impressive collection of paintings from the 15th century to the present. The heart of the collection is the Flemish and Dutch art of the 17th century. The dukes of Mecklenburg acquired artworks from old masters who are famous worldwide today, thus laying the basis of the collection.

Treasures by Jan Brueghel the Elder, Paulus Potter, Adriaen van Ostade, Frans van Mieris the Elder or Frans Hals, Peter Paul Rubens, Jacob Jordaens or Carel Fabritius give differentiated insights into the art of the time and bear witness to the world-class museum.
Since October 2013, the extensive Schwerin collection has been further enriched with 155 new Dutch and Flemish paintings which were donated by Christoph Müller.

The world's largest collections by the French animal painter Jean-Baptiste Oudry, works from centres of arts like Berlin or Dresden, Antoine Pesne and Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich among others, and a magnificent full-length portrait of Queen Charlotte from the studio of Thomas Gainsborough are just a few highlights of the significant collection of 18th century.

The art of the 19th century is represented by the Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich, the portrait painter François Gérard and renowned artists from Mecklenburg and court painters from this period.

Schwerin's Marcel Duchamp collection, which with 90 pieces is unique in terms of its completeness, covers almost all of the phases and aspects of the artist who, alongside Picasso, was one of the most decisive inspirers of art in the 20th century. In addition, well-known artists such as Max Liebermann, Lovis Corinth, Franz von Stuck, Alexej von Jawlensky and Pablo Picasso show the art movements of the early 20th century.

Art after 1960 and contemporary art is supplemented with pieces by John Cage, Sigmar Polke, Rachel Whiteread, Daniel Spoerri, François Morellet, artist of the Leipzig School and Mecklenburg.

Since August 2013, the museum has housed the sole collection in northern Germany of works by Günther Uecker. The acquisition of a private collection for the Staatliches Museum Schwerin proved possible thanks to the generous support from the German Federal Government Representative for Culture and Media (BKM), together with the Sparkasse Mecklenburg-Schwerin savings bank, as well as through funding from the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Ministry for Education, Science and Culture.

Sculptures

The Staatliche Museum Schwerin also has a collection of sculptures. Exceptional pieces of the Middle Ages, busts by the French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon, and sculptures by the Dresden court sculptor Balthasar Permoser are exemplary for the approximately 700 works extensive sculpture collection.

Since 1999, the museum houses fifteen bronze sculptures by Ernst Barlach. The industrialist Ludwig Bolkow, born in Schwerin, presented them to the museum. The Barlach-Stiftung Bölkow thus allows insights into the work of the important German sculptor.

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