The Three Trees near Thixendale painted by David Hockney in four seasons and a rediscovered Rembrandt are the core of the Landscapes in Dialogue special exhibition in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin from 9 April to 10 July 2022.
The Three Trees near Thixendale painted by David Hockney in a cycle of four large paintings, each representing a season, are at the center of the “David Hockney – Landscapes in Dialogue” special exhibition in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin in 2022. Hockney’s monumental landscape cycle is displayed in relation to a selection of landscapes from the collections of the Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin including works by Van Gogh, Constable, Koninck, and Ruisdael. Of particular note is Landscape with Arched Bridge — after three decades again reattributed to Rembrandt van Rijn. Buy skip-the-line tickets online — time-slot reservations are currently required to visit the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin.
Update 2024: New Berlin Museum Opening Hours
Since mid-April 2024, several top museums in Berlin are closed on both Monday and Tuesday with shorter opening hours on many days. See the latest Berlin museum opening hours for details.
Currently, time-slot reservations are obligatory only for the Neues Museum, but sensible if available for the Alte Nationalgalerie, Gemäldegalerie, Neue Nationalgalerie, Neues Museum, and Das Panorama. (The Pergamon Museum itself is closed until 2027!) Timeslots are released only a few weeks in advance. Buy tickets and make reservations online at GetYourGuide or at SMB.
Online tickets for museums without timeslot reservations are skip-the-line — go directly to the entrance to scan the ticket. Many multiple-museum tickets and passes are again accepted, including Kulturforum, Museumsinsel, and the excellent value 3-day Berlin Museum Pass.
David Hockney – Landscapes in Dialogue Exhibition in Berlin
David Hockney – Landscapes in Dialogue — The “Four Seasons” of the Würth Collection in Berlin (David Hockney – Landschaften im Dialog — Die „Vier Jahreszeiten“ der Sammlung Würth zu Gast in Berlin) is a special exhibition in the Wandelhalle of the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin from 9 April to 10 July 2022. It is one of the art highlights of the year in the German capital in 2022. The exhibition is included in regular Gemäldegalerie tickets — time-slot reservations are currently necessary to visit the paintings gallery.
The exhibition places Hockney’s monumental landscape cycle Three Trees near Thixendale (2007-2008) from the Würth Collection in relation to a selection of landscape paintings from the collections of the Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin. Works from the Alte Nationalgalerie, the Gemäldegalerie, and the Kupferstichkabinett thus provide an insight into the diversity and richness of the genre of landscape painting, which was reprised in David Hockney’s large-scale paintings.
Three Trees near Thixendale by David Hockney in Berlin
David Hockney is considered one of the most influential living artists. With the large-format Three Trees near Thixendale from the Würth Collection, Hockney turned his attention to the atmospheric changes that occur in nature during the seasonal cycle in his native Britain. This monumental landscape cycle was painted in the four seasons from 2007 to 2008. Each of these oil on canvas paintings measures 183 by 488 cm (ca. 72 by 192 inches or 6 by 16 feet).
These works are displayed in dialogue with a selection of landscapes from the collections of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in order to highlight Hockney’s engagement with the art of previous centuries and the parallels to great models such as Rembrandt, Constable, and van Gogh.
In addition to paintings by masters such as Jacob van Ruisdael, Meindert Hobbema, and Richard Wilson, the special exhibition also shows works by Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, Vincent van Gogh and John Constable, whose landscapes served as models for Hockney. The juxtaposition reveals parallels to the older works, whose technique, composition, and perspective, but also their atmosphere and mood were meticulously studied by Hockney. The exhibition brings the works into a dialogue with each other for the first time. The show not only bears witness to the importance of the landscape painting genre, its popularity, and its influence to this day but also reveals its complexity and multifaceted nature.
The exhibition also includes the recently rediscovered Rembrandt work Landscape with Arched Bridge. For over 30 years, the painting was considered to be the work of Rembrandt’s student Govert Flinck. According to the latest research, however, the work is by the master himself and now completes the globally important Rembrandt holdings of the Gemäldegalerie, which now include 20 works.
See a Rediscovered Rembrandt Landscape in the Gemäldegalerie for more on the history and research on this special painting.
About David Hockney
After studying at the Royal College of Art in London, David Hockney (* 1937 Bradford) first traveled to California in 1964, which was to become his home for many years. His experiments with acrylic paint and Polaroids resulted in his series of iconic swimming pool paintings, which caused an international sensation. Through his constant exploration of a variety of techniques, from lithography to photo collage, and his interest in a wide range of art forms, from set design to landscape painting, Hockney continues to influence and impact many fields today with his joy of experimentation.
In the 1990s, the Hockney began to engage with the nature of his British homeland Yorkshire. In accordance with his view that photography could not capture the beauty of Yorkshire, he declared war on the camera and at the same time used it as a technical tool to realize his ideas on a large scale. His recent landscape paintings blend traditional techniques and digital possibilities. They reveal his preoccupation with the art of previous centuries as well as his own observation and depiction of the North American and English landscape. In an exploration of the artists that preceded him, Hockney reexamines the question of the realism of these landscape depictions as well as our habits of seeing and perceiving the world around us.
Gemäldegalerie Opening Hours and Tickets
See Visit the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin for practical information including opening hours and tickets. The Hockney exhibition is included in the regular museum tickets.
See also Highlights of the Collection and the Italian Masterpieces for more on the permanent collection of the Gemäldegalerie and the rediscovered Rembrandt landscape that will be on display in the David Hockney exhibition.
More on the Berlin State Museums (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin):
Note new opening times for many Berlin museums since mid-April 2024 — several are now closed on both Monday and Tuesday.
Timeslot reservations are sensible (and sometimes needed in busy periods) for the Alte Nationalgalerie, Gemäldegalerie, Neue Nationalgalerie, Neues Museum, and Pergamon – Das Panorama. (The Pergamon Museum itself is closed until 2027!). Timeslots are released only a few weeks in advance. Online tickets are available from GetYourGuide or SMB.
Many passes and multi-museum tickets offer savings (Kulturforum / Museums Island). Individual museum ticket prices range from €8 to €14 (€20 for special exhibitions). Online tickets are skip-the-line — go directly to the gallery entrance to scan the code.
For more general information on the Berlin State Museums:
- Top National Museums and Galleries in Berlin (brief overview)
- Berlin State Museums: What Is Seen Where? (a short description of the collections in the different museums)
- Opening Hours of Berlin State Museums (2024) — major changes since mid-April 2024!
- Ticket Prices for Berlin State Museums (prices for museums, temporary exhibitions, combination tickets, online time-slot reservations). Buying online from GetYourGuide is easy. A ticket with a QR or bar code is scanned directly at the entrance — no need to pass by the ticket desk (but pick up the free audio guide before entering).
- Save with the Berlin Museum Pass – 30 museums (including all the SMB museums) in three days for €32 – a fantastic savings deal.
- Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (official website in German & English).
News & Temporary Exhibitions in Berlin in 2024:
- 2024: Overview of Top Berlin Exhibitions in 2024, Caspar David Friedrich in the Alte Nationalgalerie, Frans Hals in the Gemäldegalerie, Neue Nationalgalerie (20th-century art) Hamburger Bahnhof Contemporary Art, Kupferstichkabinett (Prints and Drawings), and Photography Museum.
- Museums closed in 2024: The Pergamon Museum is closed until 2027 (some sculptures are on display in Das Panorama), the Museum Berggruen is closed until 2025 (much of its collection is traveling the world), the permanent collection of the German History Museum (Zeughaus) is closed but temporary exhibitions continue in the Pei Building.
More Museum Reviews and Museum-Specific Information:
- Alte Nationalgalerie — 19th-century art.
- Altes Museum — Greek, Etruscan, and Roman art.
- Bode Museum — sculptures from the Middle Ages, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical periods, Byzantine Art, and coins.
- Ethnological and Asian Art Museums in the Humboldtforum.
- Friedrichswerdersche Kirche (free admission) with a collection of 19th-century German sculptures.
- Gemäldegalerie — German and Dutch Old Masters and Italian paintings.
- Kunstgewerbemuseum (Decorative Arts).
- Musical Instruments Museum near the Berliner Philharmonie.
- Neue Nationalgalerie — 20th-century art.
- Neues Museum — Pre and Early History, Egyptian Collection with bust of Nefertiti.
- Pergamon Museum with Ishtar Gate — the whole Pergamonmuseum is closed from 2023 until 2027. Some Greek sculptures are shown in the
- Pergamon Museum Panorama Exhibition with Asisi panoramic painting and Greek statues.
- Photography — Helmut Newton collection and historic photos.
Previous Temporary Exhibitions in Berlin Museums:
- 2023: Top Special Temporary Exhibitions in 2023 — overview, in the Kulturforum, in the Neue Nationalgalerie, on Museum Island, and the Museum of Photography.
- 2022: Top Special Temporary Exhibitions in 2022 — overview, in the Kulturforum (David Hockney), in the Neue Nationalgalerie, on Museumsinsel, Hamburger Bahnhof contemporary art, and the Museum of Photography.
- 2021: Top Special Temporary Exhibitions in 2021 — including the reopening of the Neue Nationalgalerie, as well as the Ethnological and Asian Art Museums in the Humboldt Forum.
- 2020: Highlights, in Kulturforum, on Museum Island, in the Hamburger Bahnhof, smaller museums, and the opening of the Humboldt Forum.
