Cassirer and the Breakthrough of Impressionism

How one Berlin gallerist changed the course of art history — Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 2026

Few art dealers have shaped the taste of an entire nation as decisively as Paul Cassirer. Working from his gallery in Berlin around 1900, this restless, passionate advocate staged hundreds of exhibitions that introduced German audiences to the painters they would come to regard as masters: Monet, Degas, Cézanne, Renoir, Van Gogh. Through his tireless efforts, these artists gained wider recognition in the German-speaking world for the first time — a cultural shift whose consequences are still felt today in every major German museum collection.

 Cassirer’s commitment was not limited to French art. He championed German Impressionism and supported the Berliner Secession, promoting artists such as Max Liebermann, Lovis Corinth and Max Slevogt. At the same time he advanced Edvard Munch and August Gaul as forerunners of classical modernism, while Ernst Barlach, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Paula Modersohn-Becker found their way into his program as representatives of the young avant-garde. No other dealer of his era bridged so many movements, or with such conviction.

The exhibition presents over 100 outstanding works of Impressionism and classical modernism, tracing the extraordinary depth and continuity of Cassirer’s engagement with art. The show is staged at the Alte Nationalgalerie — one of the very institutions whose collection was shaped by Cassirer’s vision a century ago. The symmetry is deliberate and quietly moving.

On kunstfinder.com you’ll find works by Monet, Degas, Cézanne, Liebermann, Munch and many of the other artists featured in this exhibition — catalogued with full details, museum locations and high-resolution images. Use the artist pages as your companion to this show.