Potsdam „in oranje“!

The Dutch Quarter in Potsdam is world-famous—but the influence of the Netherlands in Potsdam goes much further. In the theme year “Holland in Potsdam”, around 20 cultural institutions will be celebrating Dutch influences and art in Potsdam with exhibitions, events, actions, an audio walk – and this blog.

Beginning with the Dutch bank holiday “Koningsdag” on 27 April until late autumn 2023, you can discover Potsdam’s different relations to the Netherlands in weekly posts here on this blog: from the Tulip Festival to migration, from fine arts to horticulture.

The multifaceted program represents the collaboration of over twenty institutions with more than fifty participants from Potsdam’s cultural life, including the Museum Barberini and the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation as initiators of the program as well as the Potsdam Museum, Jan Bouman House, Lindenstraße Memorial Foundation, Filmmuseum, Berlin-Brandenburg Mill Association, Friends of the Stern Hunting Lodge, and the Liebermann Villa on the Wannsee. They all participate in the blog, which offers new articles, photo spreads, videos and an overview of the numerous events of this cultural summer every week.

The point of departure for the theme year “Holland in Potsdam” is the exhibition Clouds and Light: Impressionism in Holland, on view at the Museum Barberini from July 8 to October 22. The exhibition brings together around a hundred masterpieces by forty artists including Johan Barthold Jongkind, Vincent van Gogh, Jacoba van Heemskerck, and Piet Mondrian. Already the city tour “Holland in Potsdam” available on the free Barberini app takes you to 20 different places with exciting Holland connections. Like the previous city walks “Italy in Potsdam” and “France in Potsdam,” the tour will be permanently accessible on the app as an audio guide and will also appear in print later this year as a brief art guide in the publication series of the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation.

The Potsdam Palace Night is also dedicated to the Netherlands this year. On the weekend of 18 and 19 August, you are invited to the opulently staged Sanssouci Park and its palaces under the title “Prachtig”. Five themed tours are part of the Potsdam Palace Night programme – they lead through the royal kitchen garden full of vegetables, through the Dutch Garden to the Oranierrondell, explain the bridge art in Sanssouci and provide information on orange cultivation at the Orangerie Palace in Sanssouci Park.

There is plenty of Holland to discover in Potsdam and we hope you enjoy it!

We are thrilled that the idea of imagining a Potsdam cultural summer ‘in orange’ with our exhibition as the point of departure has been so well-received by our colleagues from other cultural institutions in Potsdam. The enthusiasm that all the participants have shown in putting together the city walk, blog, and program of events inspires us all and heightens the anticipation for the multifaceted program, which will culminate on September 10 in a major cultural festival on the Alter Markt.

Ortrud Westheider, Direktorin des Museums Barberini

As ambassador of the Netherlands and patron of the exhibition, I am delighted to open the exhibition Clouds and Light: Impressionism in Holland this summer. I am impressed above all by how the cultural institutions gathered here have uncovered an unbelievable number of connections to the Netherlands, layer by layer, with archaeological precision. This marvelous initiative of the Museum Barberini showcases the Netherlands in a diverse and very attractive way.

S.E. Ronald van Roeden, Botschafter des Königreichs Niederlande in Deutschland, SCHIRMHERR DER AUSSTELLUNG IM MUSEUM BARBERINI

Potsdam is a cultural capital of Europe—and has always been shaped by international exchange. The traces of our Netherlandish neighbors are most visible in the Dutch Quarter. But there is much more to discover than just poffertjes and pankook, and not just at the tulip festival or the Sinterklaas Christmas market. The cultural summer of 2023 brings visibility to ‘Holland in Potsdam’—with readings, concerts, film screenings, walks, and exhibitions. Thank you to the Museum Barberini and the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation for initiating this theme year!

Manja Schüle, Ministerin für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kultur des Landes Brandenburg

The Dutch Quarter is proof of the historical connections to the Netherlands that have existed since the time of King Frederick William I—and even that of his predecessors. In those days it was craftsmen and architects who came to our city; now it is students, scientists, and of course artists. The motives of those who come to us now are different than they used to be, but one thing has stayed the same: the interaction between our guests, whether temporary or long-term, and the people who live here creates value—value that you can see, in which you can live and work, as well as intellectual and cultural value. All of you have set out to show the complexity of this value—through exhibitions, tours, informational programs, and not least of all the cultural festival in the center of Potsdam in September. I would like to express my sincere thanks for your efforts and, of course, for the support of the embassy of the Netherlands. I look forward to the various events and wish all of you the best of success.

Burkhard Exner, Bürgermeister der Stadt Potsdam