Forests and trees - mighty oaks in wide clearings, a delicate green in a hidden corner - are among the frequently painted motifs in the painting of the first half of the 19th century. The "German Forest" became an identification image of national self-assurance and, at the same time, artistic reconsideration during the Romantic period. A key work in this context is "The Hunting Break in the Wermsdorf Forest" by the painter Ferdinand von Rayski. From now on, the painting will be on loan from the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature in Paris for a period of three years. Shown for the first time in Dresden, it will now be displayed alongside the artist's "Study of the Wermsdorf Forest," which has long been one of the Albertinum's major works.

With a work by Katharina Grosse, consisting of a painted tree root and two aluminum elements, a contemporary work is added as a loan that illustrates the continuity and change of the theme as a corrective, as it were. Grosse, whose work is on view here in Dresden for the first time ever, combines an abstract, dynamic painting, multi-layered in its means, with real objects. The complex three-dimensional form is relativized and simultaneously emphasized by the painting. In the process, the paint visually detaches itself from its support and becomes an event itself.

With this presentation, the Albertinum makes it possible to take a look at treasures that otherwise lie dormant in the depot and places them in a new context.

The presentation of Katharina Grosse's work is made possible by the Foundation of Art & Music for Dresden.