Brücke Museum — Attraction in Berlin

The museum presents itself as the largest collection of the Brücke mouvement, so I was expecting to see many works of Kichner, Pechstein, Nolde etc. To my surprise, there is no permanent collection, only a temporary exhibition (in this case with Irma Stern; very interesting indeed, but still not what was promised). That was the first disappointment since this museum was one of the main reasons for my stay in Berlin. But it was not as bad as the welcome of the staff. First of all, one does not receive any explanation, such as the absence of a permanent collection. Second, I'm being asked to leave my handbag in the locker, according to the museum rules. One might imagine that handbags are not tolerated at all, but once I get into the exhibition rooms, I see several ladies with their handbags, some of them with a comparable size of mine. So I go back to the locker and take mine (since my dress doesn't have any pockets and it is very uncomfortable to keep in my hands the phone, the key of the locker and the exhibition leaflet, especially when I want to take notes during the exhibition). But I'm being told with arrogance that I need to leave my handbag in the locker and when I ask why the others were allowed to keep theirs, no answer is being given, the person just angrily repeats the demand. For the record, the same handbag was considered small in the Hanseatic Museum in Lübeck and completely ignored in the Freiraum fur Fotografie and Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin. So I assume that each museum has its own rules that must depend on the museum configuration and these rules should stem from the evaluation of several security scenarios. Therefore, if you care about security and you are very strict about rules and expect visitors to blindly follow them, you should state them explicitly, i.e. write the size of the allowed handbags, just like the airlines do. If you are not able to provide objective data and leave it to the subjective evaluation of your staff (do they have special training in security measures?), then you don't care about security and your rules become ways of discrimination. You should expect people to follow unambiguous written rules, but not vague, oral ones. A funny thing is that all the persons allowed with handbags were German speakers. Perhaps you think that foreigners are not disciplined enough to watch their handbags. Well, as far as I'm concerned, I've visited around 100 art exhibitions, most of them in France, with even larger handbags and without any incident. And by the way, France has far more visitors in its art museum than Germany and handbags are always...

Tickets are sold in the cafe. A man who works in the cafe got angry and exasperated with me for asking where the Brücke museum was, after he sold me admission to both museums, the Dahlem and Brücke. He huffed, sighed loudly, and repeatedly commanded me, yelling, to follow him outside so he could point the way out. I literally did nothing but politely ask him how to enter the other museum. It was ironic given the content of the exhibition (art work censored by the Nazis) that I was being treated with irrational animosity.

The interaction with the admission staff worker/waiter was shockingly unprofessional. I did not take it personally though was also uncomfortable to say the least, during my visit. I would have ordered something in the cafe after looking at the exhibitions though thought better of subjecting myself to his wildly inappropriate, offensive behavior.

The exhibit in the Brücke was uneven, a few accomplished paintings. The landscape as a place of refuge and support for Jews during World War II was palpably meaningful. A film of footage from 1945 in Berlin in the direct aftermath of the war was incredible to see while experiencing contemporary Berlin. The architecture, was worth seeing. All the text is in German. There’s a lot of text. I’m not a fan of German expressionism, it should be said. I happened to be nearby.

I was not particularly interested in or impressed by any of the work...

Very disappointed. I came to Germany to see German Expressionist art. And the Brucke was a part of it. Yet, their current exhibit is mostly another school of art, some contemporary stuff and a few Expressionist pieces sprinkled in. When I talked to the quite lovely staff about this, they said that it’s a small museum, and they are limited in what they can show. Yet, a whole room was wasted on an audio installation that was nothing but drivel. Nobody was interested in it, it wasted valuable wall space, and it blared loudly enough to be heard several rooms away, distracting from the other art.

The museum boasts about their large Expressionist collection. I wish I had seen it. Perhaps the Brucke should keep in mind that, judging by the many languages I heard, their audience is international. Some, like me, may never make it back to Berlin. This current exhibit is not what most people came to see. I didn’t need your “concept” to enjoy the art. You were talking to yourselves. It put a damper on my experience in Germany and wasted half a day of my limited time in Berlin. What a...