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Portraits! Surprising Encounters from Botticelli to Lempicka
Around 80 portraits spanning five centuries, from rulers in full glory to intimate scenes of friendship and proud self-portraits, Botticelli to Lempicka.
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In 1557 Sofonisba Anguissola painted her mother, Bianca, turning toward her daughter as she works. In 1929 Eugen Spiro painted his wife looking at him in much the same way. Here the two hang side by side, 380 years apart, and that is how the whole show works.
Around 90 portraits from the 15th to the 20th century are paired off across four sections: Renaissance portrait types north and south of the Alps, the elite showing off, family and friendship, and artists and collectors. Most come from the Gemäldegalerie's own walls, with loans from other Berlin state museums. You walk past pairs that have never met before: Botticelli with Lempicka, Dürer with Giorgione, Rubens with Gainsborough.
Radio3's critic called it "a small school of close looking": the curators worked from no fixed checklist, so each pair's link is yours to find. Tickets are €16 (€8 concessions) with timed slots online, or €22 for the Kulturforum ticket covering every show there. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 6pm.
Editor's pick
Around 80 portraits across five centuries, Botticelli to Lempicka: rulers in full state, intimate scenes of friendship and proud self-portraits, which is the selfie back when it took weeks.
Look for
Anguissola's mother and Spiro's wife
Look for Bianca Anguissola engaging with her daughter at the easel in 1557, hung beside Eugen Spiro's wife giving him the same look in 1929.
A Roman mummy portrait and Countess Luise von Voß
A woman from Roman imperial times and Friedrich Bury's early-19th-century countess, both dark-haired and dark-eyed, tilt their heads and look straight at you.
A two-metre stranger and a 20-centimetre merchant
An unknown man by an unknown painter looks proudly down from two metres up, beside Chodowiecki's tiny Marcus Levin, who glances out almost shyly.
Margaret of Parma and Don Gabriel de la Cueva
Anthonis Mor's knee-length Duchess, with her regal gaze, faces Moroni's nobleman from 1560: two ways of dressing and posing for status.
Botticelli's Giuliano de' Medici
The 1478 portrait that gives the show half its title, brought together with a Tamara de Lempicka portrait from around 1931.
Good for
- Going Solo
- Nerding Out
- Out-Of-Town Guests
Skip if
You want portraiture in date order: every work hangs beside a partner from another century.
With kids
Families with children aged 6 to 12 can book the Porträtwerkstatt workshop on Saturday afternoons from 21 November: €15 for two people, €20 for three or more, admission included.
Also at Gemäldegalerie
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Image credits
8
- Portraits! Surprising Encounters from Botticelli to LempickaStaatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie / Jörg P. Anders | Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Neue Nationalgalerie / Jochen Littkemann, © Tamara de Lempicka Estate, LLC / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026
- Sofie Dawo. Textile ExperimentsPhoto: Jochum Rodgers, Berlin
- 2101 – Future Ceramics: Dining Culture of the FuturePhoto: Jannes Bock
- Pewter from the Middle Ages to Art Nouveau© Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kunstgewerbemuseum / Photo: Fotostudio Bartsch
- GemäldegalerieOursana / Wikimedia Commons, CC0
- KunstgewerbemuseumMarsupium / Wikimedia Commons, CC0
- Neue NationalgalerieEvgenii Salganik / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Gropius BauManfred Brückels / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0