Welcome to our Collection Online!
The Collection Online of the Brücke-Museum shows works by members of the Brücke group including Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Fritz Bleyl, Otto Mueller, Max Pechstein, Emil Nolde, Cuno Amiet and Franz Nölken, not to mention their friends and others who companions along the way, such as Max Kaus, Walter Gramatté, Anton Kerschbaumer and Otto Herbig.
Select your own search terms or topics for exploring our collection or alternately use the filters to look for specific artists or techniques and limit your search using the timeline. The albums are designed to provide a thematic approach; they bring together sets of short texts and paintings that highlight specific topics. The “Perspectives” section offers you interdisciplinary views of the Collection. Providing no copyright exists you can examine individual works close up using the magnify function, download, and share them.
Currently you will find all the paintings from our collection here, as well as paper works from the years 1905 to 1924. On display are both – currently exhibited works of art but also those in our storerooms. You can use the filter to find those paintings that are currently on display. Our collection online is constantly growing! So please feel free to visit us more often.
Wishing you lots of fun browsing our Collection Online!
How can I use the Collection Online?
Below you will find a range of instructions for you on how to use the images and the information on them. We explain what information we have provided and set out the legal and ethical recommendations for the use of the images.
You can find detailed explanations on the following:
1 Images
2 Date
3 Genre and material(s)
4 Size
5 Acquisition details
6 Credits
7 Signature/designation
8 Inventory number and catalogue number
9 Indexing (GND number, Iconclass)
10 Legal basis for the use of images
11 Recommendations: Public Domain Usage Guidelines
1 Images
In our Online Collection you will find artworks that are photographically digitized. These images are available in different sizes depending on the copyright situation. Images of non-copyrighted works (i.e., those by artists who died over 70 years ago) are available for downloading in high resolution. You can examine the enlarged images in better detail, download them, and share them on Facebook or by e-mail.
Works that are copyrighted can be viewed in a smaller resolution. Details on the copyright holder of the artworks can be found in the credits for these works.
2 Date
If an artwork was dated by the artist, then this date is given. This can be checked in the field signature/designation. Other datings may be based on sources such as art historical reference materials or a catalogue raisonné. Periods of time are indicated with a hyphen (1903–1905), an unspecified date within a period of origin with a slash (1903/1904). If no date is known or a more exact dating is not possible the artist’s date of birth and death are given so that the work can still be recorded in the timeline and the search function therefore used.
3 Genre, material(s) and technique
The information on genre, material(s) and technique follows art historical standards. Typically, the information states the painting technique and the medium used.
4 Size
Size is given as Height × Width × Depth in centimetres. This refers to the dimensions of the canvas and the frame.
5 Acquisition details
This section informs you on when and how the work entered the Brücke-Museum collection and where it came from. Works can have been acquired from art dealers, from private individuals or from the artists themselves, or they are on permanent loan to the Brücke-Museum.
6 Credits
The line with credits contains information on the copyright holder or owner(s), in a form agreed with them. In the Brücke-Museum Online Collection the credits consist of the following fields: Artist, Title, Date, Material/Technique, Brücke-Museum (location), Copyright (copyright holders). Accordingly, the caption of the painting “Water Tower” by Erich Heckel reads: Erich Heckel, Water Tower, 1910, oil on canvas, Brücke-Museum © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2019.
7 Signature/designation
The signature or designation typically refers to proof of copyright provided by the artist directly on the work, sometimes in the form of an abbreviation or a monogram. In some cases, designations that do not originate from the artist are also included in the database.
8 Inventory number and catalogue number
In museums inventory numbers are used to systematically record and identify works of art. Every object has its own number and this is assigned chronologically with the help of the entry in the inventory ledger. It allows information to be clearly assigned to an artwork.
Each of the groups of holdings groups in the collection follows a different inventory system:
Brücke-Museum (State of Berlin), e. g., 24/64
Karl and Emy Schmidt-Rottluff Foundation, e. g., A 110
Permanent loan, e.g., DL 1981/1.
9 Indexing
9.1 Keywords
You can filter the works of the Online Collection using certain matches with the help of the keywords freely assigned by Brücke-Museum. The designations include in particular the genre of the work and can be used to complement the theme descriptions (Iconclass).
9.2 Iconclass
Iconclass offers a collection of definitions (a standardized vocabulary) for recording and describing image content and was specially designed as a tool for scholarly work in the domains of art history and iconography. It provides a set of standardized, fixed terms to define and interpret picture subjects and as such differs from the freely selected keywords assigned by Brücke-Museum.
9.3 GND number
“The Integrated Authority File (GND) is a standard file to represent and describe entities, i.e., persons, corporate bodies, conferences and events, geographic entities, subject keywords and work titles. It is used in particular by libraries to catalogue publications, but is increasingly also preferred by archives, museums, projects and for Web applications. The GND is cooperatively managed by the German National Library, all library networks in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, and their participating libraries, the German Union Catalogue of Serials (ZDB) and many other institutions.” This is how the German National Library describes the purpose and tasks of the GND number. In the museum context it facilitates the standardization of artist information, it complements foreign-language writings and creates further references. In the context of the Brücke-Museum’s Collection Online it helps standardize the titles, places and persons referred to in the works and creates further links.
10 Legal basis for the use of images
It is our aim to make the complex legal situation and associated possible uses in our Online Collection transparent. For the illustrations of artworks above all two legal standards apply: copyright and image rights. Copyright holders are natural persons, typically artists or authors who produce works with an “intellectual level of creativity”. If a work is reproduced photographically, image rights arise that lie with the photographers. For all the digital content of the Brücke-Museum’s Collection Online the image rights have been transferred to Brücke-Museum.
Works are free of copyrights if their creators have been dead for at least 70 years. We decided not to give these works new copyrights, but rather assign them Creative Commons License CC-BY-SA 4.0. You can use these images freely without asking for our permission. You may download them, share them, copy them, redistribute them or use them (say for research, teaching, publication or for commercial purposes) or you can edit them, modify them and insert them into a new context – under the following conditions: You must always name the source (Brücke-Museum), and refer to the creator (by name) and the rights), add a link to the license and also indicate whether any modifications have been made. The forwarding of the content may only be effected under the same conditions. This means if you alter the material or otherwise directly incorporate it, you may only redistribute your contributions under the same license as the original without limiting the same through clauses or technical procedures.
In particular, works of contemporary art by living artists or artists who died less than 70 years ago are not free of copyright. We have researched and clarified these rights so as to be able to include the works in our Online. In some instances, the creators transfer the exercising of their rights to the VG Bild-Kunst in Bonn, with whom subsequently an agreement on use is affected and authorization is granted subject to a charge. Information on the copyright holders is always provided directly beneath the illustrations.
These illustrations may only be used if a request to do so has been submitted to Brück -Museum and permission granted. The same applies to images with a high resolution in tiff-format, which are necessary say for larger reproductions. Send your inquiry with the subject line “Image use” to info[at]bruecke-museum.de. This reproduction permission applies for the photo made available, but you must also make a separate request to the copyright holder for the copyright.
11 Recommendations: Public Domain Usage Guidelines
We would ask you to observe the following recommendations when using images that carry a Creative Commons license. They are derived from the Public Domain Usage Guidelines of Europeana.
11.1 Source
When using images, we would ask you to provide the correct dates for the work and also to indicate where you obtained the material, even if you have edited or modified it. To make this easier for every object we offer a suggestion for the credit line.
11.2 Respect
Please respect the original and don’t use it in an unlawful or misleading way. If you modify or edit an image, we would ask you to indicate clearly that you have altered the original. If the work contains culturally or morally sensitive elements please handle them with circumspection. Your modification or use of such elements may be considered offensive or insulting.
11.3 Reputation
If you edit an image, do not attribute your modification to the creator of the work or Brücke-Museum. The Brücke-Museum logo may not be used in combination with altered works without the Museum’s express consent. Please do not give the impression that the Brücke-Museum in any way supports or endorses such use, modification or redistribution.
11.4 Share knowledge
If you have additional information on the Brücke artists, an artwork, its provenance or the copyright holder, we would welcome you sharing this knowledge with us and other users. Please send your information to info[at]bruecke-museum.de.
11.5 Copyright marks
Please never remove the license marks from works or spread misleading information on their origin, artists, copyright holders or the copyright status.