From February 12 to May 8, 2022, the Kupferstichkabinett Berlin offers a real exhibition experience: In Hell-Black and Starlight. Dante's Divine Comedy in the Modern Age and the Present, artworks from Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) to Andreas Siekmann (*1961) are on display. Centuries-old drawings stand next to Siekmann's computer-drawn digital prints. The artworks are based on Dante's Divine Comedy, whether book illustrations or the free depiction of modern, political hell scenarios as in Siekmann's work. On the occasion of the 700th anniversary of Dante's death in September 2021, the Kupferstichkabinett demonstrates the great influence of the Divine Comedy on the visual arts.
The oldest illustrations of the Divine Comedy date from around 1330, just a few years after Dante's death in 1321. This exhibition focuses on rare linocuts and woodcuts by Ebba Holm and Klaus Wrage, respectively, from the 1920s. Wrage originally donated the woodcuts to the Kupferstichkabinett shortly after they were created, but they were later lost during World War II. A few years ago they turned up in Spain and are now back in the Kupferstichkabinett. Other exhibits are by renowned artists such as Sandro Botticelli, Arnold Böcklin, Eugène Delacroix, Gustave Doré and Joseph Anton Koch.
