Das verborgene Museum

Description

In Charlottenburg, the Verborgene Museum in Berlin developed from 1987 into an address for the presentation of works by women artists from painting, photography, sculpture and architecture. It concentrated on European women artists born around the turn of the 19th to the 20th century who had early access to public training institutions and who worked at academies or art schools. Internationally, the institution was regarded as the only one devoted exclusively to the works of forgotten women artists of the past century. On 1 January 2022 the museum was closed; since then the holdings have been exhibited at the Berlinische Galerie.

The starting point was a 1987 exhibition on the occasion of Berlin’s 750th anniversary, produced in cooperation with the Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst. From this presentation a registered association formed that used rooms at Schlüterstraße 70 in the rear courtyard. The name referred less to the location than to the concept: to present publicly works that had previously remained unnoticed in museum storage.

Over the years the institution presented about 100 women artists and often did pioneering work in their rediscovery in Germany after the Second World War. Solo presentations helped bring artists such as Lotte Laserstein, Lotte Jacobi and Marianne Breslauer to renewed attention in larger museums. Such exhibitions frequently paved the way for further research and subsequent presentations.

In 2022 the association transferred its collection and archive to the Berlinische Galerie in Berlin‑Kreuzberg. The archive was integrated there and made accessible to the public, with the aim of continuing the discovery and study of the artists on an institutional basis and achieving a wider reach.

The financial basis included, among other things, infrastructure funding of 55,000 euros granted in 2010 as part of the Berlin Women Artists’ Programme; the cultural administration covered rent and part of the personnel costs, while funds for individual exhibitions had to be applied for separately. Voluntary commitment formed a supporting pillar of the museum’s operations.