Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945) was a famous early-20th-century artist whose social and political awareness lent a tortured power to her lithographs, graphics, woodcuts, sculptures and drawings. This four-floor exhibit in a charming 19th-century villa kicks off with an introduction to this extraordinary woman, who lived in Berlin for 52 years, before presenting a life-spanning selection of her work, including the powerful anti-hunger lithography Brot! (Bread!, 1924) and the woodcut series Krieg (War, 1922–23).
Other recurring themes include motherhood and death; sometimes the two are strangely intertwined, as in works that show death as a nurturing figure, cradling its victims. The adjacent garden cafe is a nice post-culture refuelling stop.
Note that the museum is set to move to a new (as yet unspecified) location near Schloss Charlottenburg in late 2019.
