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Spiegel im Spiegel: Encounters Between Estonian and German Art from Lucas Cranach to Arvo Pärt and Gerhard Richter 08/05/2025 – 31/08/2026

Staatliche Kunstsammlumngen Dresden

Die Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau

Uwe Pfeifer (1947). Portrait of Gisela. 1980. Oil on hardboard. © Albertinum, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. Photo: Elke Estel and Hans-Peter Klut. © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Exhibition

Spiegel im Spiegel: Encounters Between Estonian and German Art from Lucas Cranach to Arvo Pärt and Gerhard Richter

The exhibition Spiegel im Spiegel is an ambitious cooperation project between the Art Museum of Estonia and the Dresden State Art Collections (Staatliche Kunstsammlumngen Dresden, SKD), taking the viewer on a journey through Estonian and German art and history.   While reflecting the complexity of those relations and issues of colonial power and mentality, the exhibition also highlights the cultural intertwining of German, Baltic-German and Estonian art.

The exhibition sets up encounters between the oeuvres of Arvo Pärt and Gerhard Richter, August Matthias Hagen and Caspar David Friedrich, Eduard Wiiralt and Otto Dix, Konrad Mägi and Max Pechstein, Ülo Sooster and Joseph Beuys, and many other outstanding Estonians and Germans.

From May to August the exhibition can be seen in the Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbaus in Dresden, and from 24 October in the Great Hall of Kumu. The two locations of the exhibition – first in Dresden and then in Tallinn – allow for two different versions of the same exhibition. Although the concept and layout of the exhibition remain the same, the selection of works included will differ substantially: the Dresden display will include more works by Estonian artists and the Tallinn display will have more works by German artists, making it possible to show a wider selection of excellent and renowned works, and hopefully inspiring art connoisseurs to visit both exhibitions.

Arvo Pärt and Gerhard Richter at the Manchester International Festival in 2015. Photo: Christopher Thomond / Guardian / eyevine / laif
The title of the exhibition Spiegel im Spiegel, i.e. Mirror in a Mirror, refers to the title of a composition by Arvo Pärt. In 2025, Arvo Pärt’s 90th birthday is being celebrated all over the world. The exhibition includes Arvo Pärt’s manuscripts and musical diaries from the collections of the Arvo Pärt Centre and the Theatre and Music Museum of the Estonian History Museum, giving the viewer an idea of Pärt’s highly visual creative process. 

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Artists:

Arnold Akberg, Carl Johann Baehr, Joseph Beuys, Edmond Arnold Blumenfeldt, Carl Gustav Carus, Hans Christoph, Lucas Cranach vanem, Johan Christian Dahl, Otto Dix, Anthony van Dyck, Kurt Eichler, Ülo Emmus, Conrad Felixmüller, Caspar David Friedrich, Eduard von Gebhardt, Ernst Moritz Geyger, Hermann Glöckner, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johannes Greenberg, Hans Grundig, August Matthias Hagen, Julie Hagen-Schwarz, Gussy Hippold-Ahnert, Karl Hofer, Werner Hofmann, Alexander Kanoldt, Edith Karlson, Georg Kind, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich von Kügelgen, Gerhard von Kügelgen, Karl von Kügelgen, Christian Gottlob Kühn, Elisàr von Kupffer, Allex Kütt, Max Lachnit, Leonhard Lapin, Erna Lincke, Karin Luts, Konrad Mägi, Friedrich Ludwig von Maydell, Karl Morgenstern, Richard Müller, Otto Nagel, Horst Naumann, Kristina Norman, Max Pechstein, Eduard Ole, Arvo Pärt, Uwe Pfeifer, Gerhard Richter, Wilhelm Rudolph, Sirje Runge, Jaanus Samma, Josef Scharl, Georg Friedrich Schlater, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Sascha Schneider, Louise Seidler, Karl August Senff, Peter Felix von Sievers, Ludmilla Siim, Ülo Sooster, Anton Starkopf, Olga Terri, Bertel Thorvaldsen, Jaan Toomik, Karl Gottfried Traugott Faber, Nikolai Triik, Ants Viidalepp, Aili Vint, Carl Christian Vogel von Vogelstein, Henriette Wiedebusch, Eduard Wiiralt and Magnus Zeller

Collections:

Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden museums: the Albertinum, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Gerhard Richter Archiv, Kupferstich-Kabinett, Skulpturensammlung, Münzkabinett and Grünes Gewölbe

The Arvo Pärt Centre, Centro Elisarion, municipality of Minusio, Estonian History Museum – Theatre and Music Museum, Estonian National Museum, Gerhard Richter Art Foundation, Karl May Museum, Städtische Galerie Dresden, Tartu Art Museum, University of Tartu Library and private collections

Exhibition team:

Curators: Marion Ackermann, Sergey Fofanov and Kadi Polli
Exhibition design: Kaarel Eelma
Graphic identity of the exhibition: Asko Künnap
Exhibition coordinators: Inga Jaagus, Johanna Jolen Kuzmenko and Paula Sowa

The exhibition has been organised in collaboration with Dresden State Art Collections (Staatliche Kunstsammlumngen Dresden, SKD)