This is the common state of knowledge: German postwar art took two directions - east and west. As the Berlin-based Neue Nationalgalerie owns one of the biggest collections of DDR art, their current exhibit "Divided Heaven" ("Der geteilte Himmel") intends to juxtapose the development of both sides - balancing, questioning and comparing the museum's permanent collection. The title is borrowed by a novel, written by the east German author Christa Wolf, and it promises a strong agenda: east vs. west. The first room still keeps the promise, by spatially confronting the "abstract west" (left side) and the "figurative east" (right side). Historically seen, this is an interesting comparison, however drawing a very high 'wall' between the two. I felt that this separation was a bit dull. Some works, as Wilhelm Lachnit's "Gliederpuppe", are introduced as an eastern step to abstraction, suggesting that socialistic realism wasn't the only thing they did....

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BERLIN: "DER GETEILTE HIMMEL" AT NEUE NATIONALGALERIE