Upcoming exhibitions

Around 1900, drawings from the studio of Otto Wagner (1841–1918) conveyed the vision of a future architecture freed from historical constraints and committed to “modern life”. Its formal language was defined not by past styles, but by the structures, materials and needs of the present. Compositionally sophisticated and technically elaborate, these works were an effective medium for Wagner’s pioneering artistic intentions. They are now considered masterpieces of architectural drawing.

This exhibition was created in cooperation with the Wien Museum, which holds the majority of Wagner’s works. It is the first time that the drawings of this pioneer of twentieth-century modern architecture have been shown in Berlin, and the first exhibition on the subject in Germany in more than sixty years.

Berlin played an important role in Wagner’s career. While studying at the Building Academy, Wagner became acquainted with the work of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, whose Sammlung architektonischer Entwürfe [Collection of Architectural Designs] later served as a model for his own publications. He also participated in the competitions for the Berlin Cathedral and the Reichstag building with impressive entries.

The exhibition is divided into six chapters, each devoted to a key theme in Wagner’s work, and showcases some of the architect’s most notable drawings. These range from his little-known early historicist works, through spectacular projects for the Vienna Secession, to the radical, traditional ornament-free buildings of his later period, which established Wagner’s central position in the history of modern architecture.

Image: Otto Wagner, Preliminary competition project for the City Museum on Karlsplatz, view from Canovagasse, 1901; Wien Museum

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