ERNST BARLACH – KÄTHE KOLLWITZ: WHAT IS FATHERLAND?

The exhibition explores the questions of belonging, humanity, and how we can build a society based on solidarity and worth living in, from two compelling artistic perspectives. It's an invitation to pause, reflect, and seek your own answers.

Ernst Barlach Museum Ratzeburg

Käthe Kollwitz: Pflugzieher und Weib, Lithographie, 1902
Keyvisual Barlach-Kollwitz 2026

Does the word fatherland really signify security and future? Shouldn't we start speaking of motherland - a place of care, responsibility, and sustainability? The exhibition at the Ernst Barlach Museum Ratzeburg explores this question from two striking artistic perspectives.

Both Barlach and Kollwitz saw the purpose of their art in wanting to change the world out of a deep humanistic understanding. Käthe Kollwitz created a wealth of socially critical works. Her focus was on those living in the poorest conditions and struggling daily for their survival. She drew very personal and individual portraits. Unusual for the time, many of these depict women, mothers, and children.

While Kollwitz focuses on the concrete realities of life in her work, Ernst Barlach can be described as a mystic of modernity. His depictions of people bear few individual characteristics. They embody universal states of being and express a spiritual orientation that seeks to transcend reality. Barlach’s works engage in a philosophical discourse about the world—how it was, how it is, and how it might become.

Both artistic perspectives share a perception of the unbearable, an outrage at our deeds and our manner of living as human beings. Even though their artworks are more than 100 years old, they stem from a time when the concepts of progress and growth emerged—concepts we continue to deal with today. The same goes for the questions that remain so relevant in the dialogue between Barlach and Kollwitz:

How do we achieve a just society? How do we take responsibility for one another? How do we protect the Earth we live on? And how do we prevent the wars that are repeatedly waged in the name of identity and property?

Keyvisual Barlach - Kollwitz 2026
Ernst Barlach: Extatische Frau, Bronze nach dem Werkmodell, 1920
Käthe Kollwitz: Losbruch, Radierung und Aquatinta,1903

The exhibition is part of the concept Museum Multimedial. It is accompanied by numerous interactive features, contextual films, and a comprehensive digital timeline that invite visitors to explore political, cultural, and biographical events.

We offer a digital gaming program for children ages 6 to 12. School groups can book grade- and subject-specific guided tours and workshops.

Opening Hours: Thursday to Sunday and public holidays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Admission: 10 euros per person / reduced rate for schoolchildren, students, and groups of 10 or more: 8 euros per person / pre-registered school groups: 3 euros per person

Guided tours for groups and workshops for school classes are available outside of opening hours. Fee per group: 120 euros in addition to the admission price.

Registration by phone: 04103.918291 or by email: kontakt@ernst-barlach.de

Ernst Barlach Museum, Barlachstraße 3, 23909 Ratzeburg