Never a Wasted Moment

Thanks to a recommendation from Susan we checked out the nearby Kathe Kollwitz Museum. Kollwitz was born in 1867 and is a famous German artist. From the museum's website:

Käthe Kollwitz is undoubtedly one of the most important women of the modern age. Her art developed completely autonomously and shows all signs of genius. Her language ist understood worldwide, whereas such prominent masters as Thoma and Menzel find lasting acclaim only in Germany, or, at most, in German speaking areas. With the exception of a few works commissioned for a specific purpose, Käthe Kollwitz' art is timeless; as Nolde would say, it is "everlasting". Even Paula Modersohn-Becker's art which is so important for early Expressionism, does not carry the same significance nor does it have the same international profile as that of Käthe Kollwitz.

The broad spectrum of her artistic work embraces both crucial aspects of life suffering per se, poverty and death, hunger and war - as well as the truly happy and positive sides of life. In this respect she differs from Ernst Barlach, for example.

Our exhibit clearly manifests a polarity within her work, which has seldom been recognized before. It proves that she was not driven to her choice of subject matter by an obsession with the tragedies of life. Nor do the numerous and extraordinarily impressive self-portraits reveal anything oppressive or self-tormenting. On the contrary, they explode with life-force, audacity and self-confidence.

And beyond this they are simply of great beauty.

I believe we saw one of her sculptures as a war memorial yesterday.

But the museum was hot, and even though it was only a few minutes away we managed to get lost on the way there, so there was only one solution--Leysieffer Chocolate at their nearby Kurfürstendamm 218 location. It's all wrapped to be taken home and we didn't eat any, but I feel restored knowing it will be in my luggage. Chocolate solves all problems, even if you don't actually eat it.

Doing this blog can be really useful as by looking for the link, I've now discovered that Leysieffer has bistro locations! Another activity to fit in before we return home on Saturday. (Mind you they may just mean locations inside another larger store, like Ka De We and not what we mean by the use of that term. I'm not sure but this link suggests that maybe it is a cafe-type spot so we will go check it out.)