Heinrich Zille has returned to the Nikolai Quarter
There is an entire museum dedicated to the legendary Berlin artist in the Nikolai Quarter and the Zille Museum has reopened on December 1, 2024 after renovation work and a redesign of the exhibition. There are a number of new exhibits on display, including busts and a relief and new loan items such as personal letters written by Zille. And, of course, drawings, prints and photographs by the “Pinselheinrich”, whose trademark was accurate observation, precise work and warm-hearted humor, are now accessible to the public again.
The festive and authentic opening was accompanied by old Berlin music from Anna Haase’s barrel organ, sparkling wine and sandwiches. Prominent guests included Heinrich Zille (Albrecht Hoffmann), Zille’s great-grandson Heinjörg Preetz-Zille as well as actors Walter Plathe and Brigitte Grothum and politician Gregor Gysi.
“With the Zille Museum, we are honoring the great artist Heinrich Zille and preserving his work for the future. What he painted and how he captured the most important things of his time with just a few strokes on paper is unique,” says actor Walter Plathe, who is also chairman of the Heinrich Zille Freundeskreis e.V. (Heinrich Zille Friends Association). “I myself grew up in Heinrich Zille’s Milljöh, so to speak, and can understand his work incredibly well. The reopening of our museum in the Nikolaiviertel is very dear to my heart. Heinrich Zille and his pictures, photos and texts are an essential part of Berlin’s culture and history.”
The museum now has eight themed areas such as “Zille’s Milljöh”, “Zille’s line”, “Zille’s humor”, “Zille’s artist friends”, “Zille’s popularity” and “Zille’s eroticism”. Highlights of the museum include the original easel with stool and his death mask, which his great-grandson Heinjörg Preetz-Zille has loaned to the museum. Excerpts from the film “Det war Zille sein Milljöh” can be seen in the small cinema room and various Zille items such as books and pictures can be purchased in the museum store.
The reopening of the museum will also see the presentation of the new special exhibition “Zwanglose Geschichten und Bilder III” – a masterpiece of Berlin wit. They were drawn by Zille as original lithographs on stone and were first published in 1919 by the Berlin art dealer Fritz Gurlitt in a small numbered edition. In the many texts on his sheets, in the humoresques, atmospheric pictures, sketches and anecdotes, Zille is a linguistic master of Berlin milieu depiction and situation comedy. Image and text form an indissoluble unity, which also presents itself as a competent dictionary of Berlin dialect.
In addition to the exhibitions, the Zille Museum will once again be hosting events, for example the following readings (in German) are scheduled for December:
Friday, December 6th, 2024 at 5 p.m.
Walter Plathe
“Stories of Christmas tree geese”
Friday, December 13th, 2024 at 6 p.m.
Peter Bause
“Oh, how merry! – Advent special”
Saturday, December 21st, 2024 at 6 p.m.
Brigitte Grothum
“The Christmas market” by Adolf Glaßbrenner
– Christmas in and around Berlin
Saturday, December 27th, 2024 at 6 p.m.
Lukas Natschinski
Red Roses – Remembering Gerd Natschinski
The Zille Museum is located at Propststraße 11 and is regularly open from Wednesday to Sunday from between 11:00 and 18:00, including public holidays. Website: zille-museum.de