Ernst Kirchner's "Potsdamer Platz" on Display again in Berlin

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's 'Potsdamer Platz' at Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany. (DPA Photo)
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's 'Potsdamer Platz' at Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany. (DPA Photo)
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Ernst Kirchner's "Potsdamer Platz" on Display again in Berlin

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's 'Potsdamer Platz' at Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany. (DPA Photo)
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's 'Potsdamer Platz' at Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany. (DPA Photo)

In the year 1914, long before his persecution under the Nazis drove him to suicide, Kirchner (1880-1938) created a central work of expressionism: "Potsdamer Platz." A nighttime street scene on Berlin's busiest crossroad, the painting is evidence that the city's world-famous club scene today has its roots in a buzzing nightlife a century ago, the German News Agency reported.

At the same time, the painting already hints at the tragedies still to come, with one female figure dressed in black and a veil, presumably widowed after the onset of World War I. Kirchner's scene is perhaps one of the most significant artworks for the city of Berlin, and, somewhat aptly, it was removed from public view during the coronavirus lockdown that emptied Potsdamer Platz and other parts of the city.

Over several years of renovation, the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin did not have walls to hang this work on, but it is now once again bringing this famous expressionist work back for the public, along with four other works by Kirchner.

For Joachim Jaeger, director of the central Berlin gallery, "Potsdamer Platz" is one of the highlights of the "The Art of Society 1900-1945" exhibition, and the collection of the National Gallery," with which the museum is reopening on August 22. The Neue Nationalgalerie was closed at the end of 2014 and has gone through five years of fundamental renovation.

With this iconic building, architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) created a striking museum for 20th-century art in the late 1960s



Tangled Humpback Whale Sparks Rescue Mission off Australia

This handout frame grab taken from video footage provided by whale rescue group Organization for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA) on June 9, 2025 shows a distressed humpback whale tangled in a rope swimming south of Sydney Harbor. (Handout and Clay Sweetman / ORRCA / AFP)
This handout frame grab taken from video footage provided by whale rescue group Organization for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA) on June 9, 2025 shows a distressed humpback whale tangled in a rope swimming south of Sydney Harbor. (Handout and Clay Sweetman / ORRCA / AFP)
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Tangled Humpback Whale Sparks Rescue Mission off Australia

This handout frame grab taken from video footage provided by whale rescue group Organization for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA) on June 9, 2025 shows a distressed humpback whale tangled in a rope swimming south of Sydney Harbor. (Handout and Clay Sweetman / ORRCA / AFP)
This handout frame grab taken from video footage provided by whale rescue group Organization for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA) on June 9, 2025 shows a distressed humpback whale tangled in a rope swimming south of Sydney Harbor. (Handout and Clay Sweetman / ORRCA / AFP)

Wildlife rescue teams scoured Australia's east coast on Monday to find and free a distressed humpback whale tangled in a rope.

Aerial footage showed the whale swimming south of Sydney Harbor trailing a rope attached to a floating buoy.

"It makes it more difficult for the whale to dive," said Pip Jacobs from whale rescue group ORRCA.

"It's tiring for the whale, which is already in a state of distress being tangled."

The whale was about eight meters (25 feet) long, Jacobs said, indicating it was still "quite young".

The rope appeared to be tangled around the whale's left pectoral fin, she said.

"The way it is moving is quite erratic," Jacobs told AFP.

"It's moving south which is unusual.

"They should be heading north as part of their migration."

Teams of volunteers and wildlife rescue experts were searching the coastline to pinpoint the whale's location, she said.

But efforts had been hindered by choppy waters and blustery winds.

"If conditions allow and we have eyes on the whale, the best-case scenario is we have a successful disentanglement.

"If they are dragging gear, it hinders their ability to swim freely. The worst-case scenario is the whale can't feed or swim."